


Fever Dream

by Mykindofmaddy



Category: Life with Derek
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-18
Updated: 2021-03-13
Packaged: 2021-03-14 10:48:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 25,346
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29541228
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mykindofmaddy/pseuds/Mykindofmaddy
Summary: Derek and Casey HATE each other... Right? Typical Derek and Casey grappling with their feelings for each other, and trying to tell themselves and each other they don't have feelings for each other.
Relationships: Casey McDonald/Derek Venturi
Comments: 6
Kudos: 21





	1. Devils roll the dice, angels roll their eyes

**Author's Note:**

> Hi everyone! This is my first time writing a fanfic, ever. Basically, I was thinking about this at work and I started writing it when I came home, and then it just continued from there. Honestly, I don't really have anything planned, I was just having fun. I have a lot more of this written, so if people like it I can continue to post it as I finish it up. Please be nice, I'm sensitive like Casey 🥰
> 
> The title and all of the chapter names are going to be based on lyrics from Cruel Summer by Taylor Swift because, even though it's not summer in the story, that's basically what's going to happen to both of these idiots throughout the story.

“Der-ek,” Casey yelled, barging into Derek’s room.

“Ever heard of knocking?” Derek drawled, putting down the magazine he was reading to glare at her.

“I’ll start knocking when you start respecting me” she screeched, putting her hands on her hips, pursing her lips, and giving Derek her trademark glare.

“So, never,” Derek said, rolling his eyes and returning to his magazine.

“Derek,” Casey continued, snatching the magazine from his hands, and throwing it on the floor.

“Hey—" Derek sat up reaching to get it. Casey pushed his shoulders, forcing him to sit on the side of his bed, facing her. 

“I think it’s about time you grew up. I mean, really? We’re in college now, pranking me is not funny anymore. I could’ve injured myself!”

“But clearly you didn’t,” Derek countered. “Shame you didn’t break an arm so Michael can start carrying your books around campus.”

“Don’t bring up Michael, you don’t even know him. This is about your problem with me. You know, I have been having such a good semester without you around and the minute I come back home I have to deal with my desk chair falling apart!”

“I was surprised you even bothered to come home,” Derek muttered, glancing down at the ground.

“What?” Casey snapped. “What is that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing, it doesn’t mean anything,” he rolled his eyes and stood up to get in her personal space. “Just thought you were having so much fun at college that you wouldn’t even want to see your dumb family over break.”

“Why would you think that?” she crossed her arms and took a small step back and raising her eyes to meet his. 

“Whatever, it’s not important. But don’t expect me to suddenly be nice to you just because you’ve decided to ignore me in college.”

“I’m not ignoring you in college, I’ve been busy. I’m trying to branch out and make friends, something you’re supposed to do when you go off to university. But you’ll never mature, will you? I should have known something like this was going to happen, that even with a month apart—"

Without thinking, or listening, Derek reached out and grabbed Casey’s face and kissed her. He didn’t know what came over him, he just had to do it. He knew he wouldn’t be able to explain it, and he didn’t have to. All he cared about was her lips. Until Casey abruptly pulled back and pushed his shoulders. Derek fell back on the bed and stared at her.

Without a word, mouth and eyes wide with shock, Casey stormed out of the room. Derek would be lying if he said he wasn’t expecting that exact reaction. All he could do now was rub his hands on his face and lie back on the bed in defeat.

Derek was not thinking about Casey. He had returned to his magazine and was reading it without thinking about Casey. He was reading about cars or snowboarding or something and not thinking about Casey. No, he was definitely focused on his magazine, no thought of Casey was going through his head. None at all.

Derek jumped when his door suddenly opened and then slammed, and Casey huffed into his room. “We need to talk,” Casey rushed, sitting in his desk chair facing him.

“No, we don’t,” he snapped not looking up from his magazine that he was now realizing was upside down, not that he would fix it while Casey’s eyes bore into him.

“Yeah Derek, we really do,” she said, barely above a whisper. “You kissed me earlier.”

“Don’t worry,” he glanced at her quickly, trying to read the look on her face. He couldn’t, which scared the hell out of him. “It won’t happen again.”

“I still think we should talk about it; I mean—” 

“No, we shouldn’t,” Derek snapped, cutting her off. “It’s not going to happen again, it was a fluke, so we don’t need to talk about it.”

“But what if it does happen again?” Casey whispered, looking down.

“Fine.” Derek huffed, finally turning his magazine right-side up. “If it happens again, which it won’t, we’ll talk about it. Now if you’ll—"

Derek wasn’t able to finish his thought before Casey launched herself at him, pressing her lips against his. Derek sat up and swung his legs off the bed, so he was sitting on the side, putting his hands on her hips. Casey wrapped her arms around his neck. Derek deepened the kiss without thinking about it, pulling Casey towards him. Before he could think about it, he pulled Casey onto his lap, so she was straddling him. She put her hands in his hair as he poked his tongue in her mouth. He was suddenly acutely aware they were making out. He and Casey were making out on his bed. And she was the one who kissed him. He continued kissing her as he silently freaked out when he realized she was wearing a skirt and he was wearing a thin pair of sweatpants. Before he could plan what his next course of action was Casey broke apart and scrambled off of his lap.   
“Now can we talk about it?” she said out of breath, fixing her hair and avoiding eye contact with him. 

Derek panted a bit and stared at Casey for a full 30 seconds before he said “Uh, yeah, I guess I did say that.”

Casey glanced at him, her lips swollen, and her eyes glazed over. All Derek wanted to do was kiss her again but talking was fine too. They sat in uncomfortable silence before Casey asked “So, uh, why did you kiss me?”

Derek sighed. He didn’t really have an answer, so he replied with the only thing he could think to say, “Why did you kiss me?”

“I only kissed you so we would talk, like normal people,” she snapped standing up. “But I guess that’s too much to ask, isn’t it, Derek?”

“I said we’d talk, I didn’t say it’d be a productive conversation,” he countered. 

“Clearly,” she huffed, crossing her arms and looking anywhere in the room besides Derek. 

“Look,” he said standing up to finally face her. He crossed his arms to match her. “I don’t really know why I kissed you, it just happened. But you’re the one who barged in here and started making out with me on my bed, so really I think I’m the one who deserves an explanation.”

Casey’s mouth shot open; her eyes bugged out of her head. “You are the one who pulled me onto your lap, Der-ek. I didn’t want to make out with you, you made me!”

“I didn’t make you do anything,” Derek said, his voice rising slightly. “I’m not one of your ex-boyfriends.”

Casey’s mouth closed at that; her eyes immediately shot down to her feet. “That’s not a nice thing to say,” she muttered, not taking her eyes off of the ground. 

Derek cleared his throat, he obviously wasn’t going to win this, so he might as well save-face. “I-I didn’t mean that. I’m just kind of freaked out by this whole thing.”

Casey didn’t say anything. She ground her toe into his carpet, her eyes never leaving her feet. Derek didn’t know what else to say, so he just watched her, waiting for her to fill the deafening silence in the room. After another 30 seconds that seemed like an eternity, Derek cleared his throat. “I’m sorry,” he said plainly. “I shouldn’t have kissed you. And I won’t do it again.”

Casey looked up, staring at him through her lashes. “You don’t need to apologize. I also kissed you. This is just a huge misunderstanding.”

Derek ran his hand through his hair. “Right, a misunderstanding.”

Casey finally looked up, her eyes going wide. “Yes,” she exclaimed, “a misunderstanding! We’re not attracted to each other. Why would we be? We can’t stand each other! We’re just sexually frustrated!”

Derek choked on his own spit. “Sexually frustrated?” he sputtered. “What the hell does that mean?”

Casey rolled her eyes. “You know what I mean, Derek. We’re just cooped up in the house, driving each other crazy. I haven’t had sex with Michael yet, which I was planning on doing, not that it’s any of your business, but I’m sure that’s it. We’re just touch starved, seeking solace in the closest member of the opposite sex.”

“Whoa whoa whoa,” Derek said, putting his hands on Casey’s shoulders, “you’re beginning to sound a little psycho. And I am not ‘touch starved’. I don’t even know what that means. But it looks like you’re projecting your problems with your boyfriend onto me, which I don’t appreciate.”

Derek sat back on his bed and kicked his feet up. He was done with Casey’s crazy conversation and he wanted her to know. “Whatever, Derek,” Casey said rolling her eyes. “This is nothing more than a fluke. All I need to do is ignore you until we go back to school and then finally have sex with my boyfriend and then we can pretend this never happened.”

“Sounds great,” Derek called out as Casey left his room. He attempted to read his magazine for approximately 30 seconds before throwing it on his bed and exhaling a long breath. He buried his head in his hands and prayed he could just shut off his brain and all thoughts of Casey for the rest of eternity. 

Three weeks later, Derek lounged on his tiny bed in his tiny dorm. His roommate was at his girlfriend’s dorm, which meant Derek should probably text some girl to come hang out in his. He was trying to take Casey’s advice and relieve his “sexual frustration” that had made him kiss her. He had hooked up with a couple of girls, but for some reason, Casey still popped into his head when he least wanted her to. So instead of texting a girl on a Saturday night when he had the room to himself, he was watching dumb YouTube videos and trying not to think of the one girl he couldn’t have.

After his 3rd watch through of some guy falling off a dirt bike, there was a knock at his door. He groaned pausing the video, not wanting to get off his bed. The person at the door started knocking more urgently, continuously banging on the thin wooden door, almost hard enough to break it. “I’m coming!” Derek exclaimed pushing his laptop to the side and getting off his bed.

He went to the door and opened it, but before he could say anything Casey pushed past him and into the room. She threw her coat onto his desk chair and crossed her arms and glared at him. “Well hello to you too,” Derek drawled, closing the door and walking towards her. “How do you even know where I live?”

“I looked it up,” she huffed. She was out of breath and visibly pissed off. She was wearing a skirt and tights with a small tank top, clearly an outfit that was too cold for November in Ontario. 

“Don’t you have some party to be at?” Derek asked, eyeing her outfit. 

“I didn’t come from a party. I came from Michael’s.”

Oh. Derek didn’t know what to say, so he rubbed the back of his neck and avoided eye contact. “Is, uh, everything okay? He didn’t hurt you or anything, did he?”

Casey sighed. Derek couldn’t see the expression on her face since he still wouldn’t look at her, but he hoped it was an okay one. “Yes,” she snapped, “Michael is fine, he didn’t do anything to me. I’m the problem.”

Derek finally looked up at her and cocked one eyebrow. He decided to wait for her to continue, not wanting to say anything wrong. When she didn’t say anything, he took a step forward and stared into her deep blue eyes. “You’re not a problem,” he finally said. “Whatever happened isn’t your fault.”

Casey sighed again and covered her face with her hands. “It is, Derek,” she said peeking at him through her fingers. “I keep trying to hook up with Michael, but I keep thinking about you and can’t go through with it.”

Derek’s mouth dropped open while Casey covered her face as it went beet red. They stood in incredibly awkward silence for what seemed like hours. Finally, Derek licked his lips and stepped towards her again, putting a hand on her shoulder. Casey took a step towards him and uncovered her face, blinking up at him through her eyelashes. “I don’t think that’s a problem,” Derek breathed, closing the distance between them until they were almost touching.

They stood there breathing, neither of them wanting to break the tension that was brewing between them. Without thinking too much about it, Derek moved his hand from her shoulder to her cheek, his breathing slowing, his mind reeling. Casey continued to stare up at him, the anticipation making her breathing labored. “So,” Casey whispered without breaking eye contact.

Before she could finish that thought Derek slammed his lips into hers, unable to hold back any longer. One hand went behind her head and the other went to her waist, pulling her as close as he could to his body. Casey deepened the kiss, wrapping her arms around his neck. They stood there, locked together for a minute, their lips not parting until they needed to breathe.

Derek slowly guided Casey to his bed. Casey broke away and dropped onto the mattress, her chest heaving from breathing so hard. Derek looked down at her, maintaining as much eye contact as he possibly could. He leaned down and kissed her gently, leaning her back onto his bed and laying down over her. Derek hadn’t thought he’d ever get this far with Casey, so he hesitated a bit, not sure how to proceed. He stared at Casey, waiting for her to smack him, or yell “Der-ek,” or run from the room and never talk to him again. But she just stared back, blinking up at him and biting her lip. 

They were in a position they had been in many times, but it usually didn’t end in kissing, it usually just ended in his dad and stepmom yelling at them to get along and a broken remote or bowl. Casey wrapped her arms around his neck again and leaned her hips into his. “This is complicated,” she whispered into his lips.

Derek grunted in agreement before he kissed her again and reached for the hem of her tank top.


	2. Drunk in the Back of the Car

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Casey and Derek go to a college party together.... Really, what could go wrong?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who left kind words. I decided to post another chapter tonight, because why not? The boyfriend's name was an accident, and when I noticed it, it was too funny to change. I hope you like mess, because mess is coming.

Casey sighed and rolled onto her side. The two of them barely fit on the twin-sized mattress, so she draped her legs and arm over him in an attempt to not fall of the bed. “So, that happened,” she mused, playing with the hair on the back of his neck.

“Yeah, twice,” he chuckled into the crook of her neck.

“Just because you came twice—" Casey said rolling her eyes.

Derek rolled on top of her before she could finish her thought, settling between her legs “Oh, yeah, I guess you did come three times, so we can use that count if you want.” Casey giggled and swatted at his chest while he started kissing her neck. “We can make it four times if you want,” he growled into her collarbone. 

Casey laughed, pushing him off of her. “As great as that offer is, I’ve gotta go.”

Derek cleared his throat and watched her get off of the bed. He rubbed the back of his neck, contemplating what to say next. “You, could, uh, stay. If you want. You don’t have to, uh, leave.”

Casey turned to face him while she pulled on her skirt. “Do you really think that’s the best idea? I figured you didn’t like girls spending the night.”

“What makes you think that?” Derek asked, rolling over to lay on his back and stare at the ceiling instead of Casey.

“Oh, come on Derek,” Casey scoffed pulling on her tank top and reaching for her shoes. “You’re Derek Venturi, you don’t do relationships or feelings or whatever. When’s the last time a girl has spent the night here?”

“Just because I sleep with a lot of girls doesn’t mean I kick them out before morning. Sometimes I even buy them breakfast.”

“Haha” Casey said dryly grabbing her jacket from his desk chair and facing him. “We both know me spending the night wouldn’t be a good idea, Derek.”

Derek turned onto his side and propped his head on his hand. “Well, I don’t think any of this was a good idea, but here we are Case.”

Casey stopped and stared at him. Her mouth hung open slightly, almost like she had something to say. Derek cocked an eyebrow at her, waiting for the words that weren’t going to come. “Goodnight, Derek”

Two weeks later Derek sat at his desk staring at his phone. He was trying to concentrate on a biology assignment but Casey, who had gone radio silent since they slept together, had texted him. It was a short message (hey.), but it had been two hours since he had responded (hey) and she hadn’t texted again. 

Derek didn’t like to obsess over girls. In fact, he usually prided himself on not obsessing over girls. But Casey wasn’t just some girl, she was his stepsister. His feelings for her were…. Complicated to say the least. And when he hadn’t heard from her, he was sure he had messed up. Only this time he really didn’t know what he did. 

So, when she had texted him, he felt a glimmer of hope that he hadn’t astronomically fucked up their relationship. But it had been two hours and Casey was radio silent again. 

Derek groaned and leaned back in his chair. Normally he liked that his roommate was never here, but now he prayed he would come in and distract Derek from his biology assignment and, more importantly, his phone.   
Completely giving up on his assignment, Derek opened his laptop and went to Facebook. He had developed a habit of stalking Casey’s Facebook page every night for approximately 30 minutes before he gave up and went to sleep before 10pm. He clicked on her profile and saw her smiling face looking back at him. Her profile picture was her and Lizzie from this past summer sitting on a picnic blanket when they went to see Shakespeare in the Park, or something stupid Derek wasn’t interested in. He made a mental note to buy a picnic basket so he could go with her this summer. He scrolled down to her posts, noticing nothing had changed from a little over 24 hours ago; Casey didn’t post on Facebook very often. He clicked onto her info and scrolled to “relationship status”. Derek sighed, “In a relationship with Michael Castiel.” Derek rolled his eyes; she was still claiming to be in a relationship with this guy.

Derek clicked on Michael’s profile. While Casey never posted on Facebook, Michael posted constantly, and his entire profile was public. Perfect. Derek glanced at his profile picture and saw Casey smiling at him. It was a selfie of the two of them outside somewhere. Who did this guy think he was, posting pictures of him and Casey?

Before Derek could scroll through the rest of his page there was a soft knock at his door. Derek rolled his eyes and got up, it was probably Zach, his roommate, who usually forgot his key. Derek opened the door ready to tell Zach to remember his key next time when he saw Casey standing in the hallway staring at the ground, holding her arm. “Casey,” Derek breathed, unable to form a coherent sentence.

“Can I come in?” Casey asked finally making eye contact with him.

“Uh—" Derek sputtered “Yeah, sure, I guess.”

Casey walked in and stood in the middle of the dorm room, turning around to face Derek closing the door. He turned back to her and stuffed his hands in his pockets. Casey clasped her hands in front of her. “Look,” she started, shifting slightly, “I owe you an apology.”

“Well, that’s new,” Derek muttered looking down at the ground.

“I know I kind of fell off the face of the planet after, you know. I’m sorry I didn’t respond to any of your texts, I guess I was just freaked out and didn’t want to deal with whatever, uh, that was. But I also realized I haven’t been fair to you this semester. I guess I got so wrapped up in my own world, I kind of forgot about you, and then when I saw you again, I guess it was just weird and different.”

Casey paused realizing she was rambling. She scanned Derek’s face for a reaction, but he was stone-faced. She read that as a sign to continue. “So, I guess what I’m saying is I don’t want things to change between us. But I also don’t want to go back to hating you. So, I think we should try to be friends.”

Casey looked at him expectedly, her eyes shining. Derek stared back. “Friends?” he asked raising an eyebrow. “You texted me and then walked to my dorm to ask me to be your friend?”

Casey looked down at the floor and didn’t say anything. “Look Casey, if you want to pretend whatever happened between us didn’t happen, that’s totally fine with me. One-time deal, I know the drill. But you want to ghost me all semester and then show up at my dorm to be friends with me? That’s the most ridiculous thing you’ve ever done.”

Casey blinked at him, hurt in her eyes. Derek groaned and rubbed his hand over his face. “Derek,” she murmured after a minute of silence. 

“Fine,” Derek interrupted, “we can be friends. But friends usually don’t kiss each other, so we probably shouldn’t do that again.”

“I don’t want to do that again,” Casey snapped. “I have a boyfriend. I think you’ve noticed.”

Casey crossed her arms and looked over at Derek’s laptop that still had Michael’s Facebook page open on it. Derek put his head in his hands before rushing over and slamming his laptop shut. “Yeah, I noticed,” he muttered refusing to look at Casey. 

“Look,” Casey said putting her hands on her hips, “I didn’t come here to start a fight with you. I came to extend an olive branch. I’ve missed you this semester, despite my better judgment. I want you to get to know Michael, I think you’d really like him. And I definitely think you’ll like my roommate, Vivian, she’s blonde. So, I’m inviting you to a party at Vivian’s sorority on Friday.”

Derek’s mouth shot open “You’re inviting me to a party? Casey McDonald is inviting Derek Venturi to a party. That’s rich.”

“Yes, Derek, I am. I think you’ll get along with them. But if you don’t want to make an effort, like usual, fine.”

“What makes you think I don’t already have plans on Friday?” Derek scoffed. 

“Fine, I get it, you’re too cool for me and my friends. I was just trying to be nice. I am always just trying to be nice to you, Derek. You have just made my life difficult at every turn, which is why I didn’t even want to come here and talk to you. You are just such an asshole sometimes, and I don’t know what you want from me—"

“Fine!” Derek interrupted. “I’ll go to your party. We can be friends.”

Casey smiled at him “Was that so hard?”

“Yes,” he stated matter-of-factly, “it was insanely difficult.”

“I’ll text you the details. Be at my dorm by 9. See you then.”

Casey brushed past him, turning to smile at him before rushing out the door. Derek groaned and collapsed on his bed. “I royally fucked up.”

Friday night showed up. Derek glanced at his phone, Casey had texted him her dorm room and a smiling emoji. He groaned and rolled his eyes. It was 8:30pm and he needed to start heading over there. But whenever he told his feet to start moving, his brain told him it was a bad idea. Going to a party with Casey and her boyfriend, and roommate for some reason, seemed like the worst idea in the world. How was he going to look at Michael knowing he had slept with his girlfriend and stalked his Facebook page 3 hours ago? Was Derek supposed to bring up the recipe he posted or compare having sex with Casey?

The more Derek thought about it, the more he wanted to crawl under his sheets and never come out again. He wandered over to his closet and pulled out a bottle of whiskey Zach left “in case of emergencies” and took a huge swig. It burned going down his throat, but he preferred that to the feeling of dread brewing in his stomach. 

Derek’s phone buzzed. He looked down at it. It was a picture from Casey of her, Michael, and some blonde girl that was captioned “We’re waiting with bated breath! Hurry up so we can have some fun!”  
Derek groaned again. Leave it to Casey to make everything so incredibly awkward. Derek grabbed his key and headed out the door, regretting every step he took. 

Casey’s dorm was on the other side of campus, which means she walked almost a mile to come see him that night. They almost never ran into each other casually on campus because of it. The late November night was cold, and Derek wished he had either put on a heavier coat or drank more of Zach’s whiskey. Derek walked as fast as he could, but he wasn’t sure if it was due to nerves or the cold.

Once he got to Casey’s dorm building, the panic started to really set in. What was he doing? Derek didn’t go to parties with Casey. He went to parties so he wouldn’t see Casey, because she didn’t go to parties. He knew you were supposed to do crazy things in college but going to a party with a girl who he slept with and her boyfriend was next-level crazy, even for Derek. He glanced at his phone again, it was 8:53. He had 7 minutes to decide whether or not he was going to go through with this. As he stood in the cold night watching his breath all he could think about was Casey. How warm Casey was and how she smelled like flowers and deodorant and how her mouth tasted. Derek smacked his forehead with the palm of his hand. What the hell was he doing? What was he expecting to get out of this night? Casey wanted to be friends, that was fine, he could do friends. Maybe.

His phone buzzed. It was Casey, she was calling him. “Shit,” he muttered to himself. He had been standing out here for 10 minutes already. “Hello?”

“Der-ek!” Casey screeched and giggled. “Are you coming?”

She was drunk. “Uh, yeah,” Derek said, cursing himself for telling her that. “I’m actually right outside, I’m about to come up.”

“Great! We’ve got pregame stuff. I hope you like Malibu.”

Casey giggled again. Derek heard a girl yell “Michael, shut up!” in the background. “Sounds great. Be right there.”

Derek sighed and hung up the phone. Well, this was it. He was about to hang out with a drunk Casey and her boyfriend. What a fantastic fucking idea.

Derek barely knocked on Casey’s door when it swung open. A bright, smiling blonde girl greeted him. “You must be Derek!” She mused, the smile on her face never wavering.

“The one and only,” Derek replied, shrugging his shoulders. “You must be...”

“Vivian,” she said, putting a hand on her hip, the other remained on the side of the door. “I’m Casey’s roommate. The one who’s made her more fun.”

“Ah, you’ve taken on an impossible task. Gotta respect you for that.”

“It’s easier than you’d think,” she said finally stepping aside to finally let him in. “You only need to add alcohol.”

“I would have tried that years ago if I had known,” Derek chuckled stepping in.

Derek looked around the room, taking it in. It was very neat and bright. Both of the girls had pastel bedspreads, but that was where the similarities ended. Derek immediately knew which side was Casey’s since she had dance posters and stacks of books on her desk, while her roommate chose canvas art that Derek didn’t quite understand. Casey was leaning against her desk with her boyfriend pressed against her. This was the first time Derek had ever seen him in person, but he looked exactly the same as his Facebook pictures. He was tall and blond and tan in the middle of fall for some reason. He looked like he came straight out of an L.L. Bean catalog and Derek couldn’t stand it. 

Derek took his jacket off while Vivian poured something pink into a plastic cup. She shoved it into his hand and grabbed her own cup from her desk. Derek sniffed the contents of the cup, it smelled like coconut and regrets. Derek drained the cup in one go. “Thirsty?” Vivian smirked as she refilled his cup.

“You could say that” Derek muttered taking smaller sips from the cup this time.

Casey giggled at something Michael had whispered to her then pushed him off and faced Derek. “Derek, you took too long to get here, so we got drunk without you. You’ll have to catch up.”

Derek raised an eyebrow. “He’s working on it,” Vivian mused, twirling a lock of hair in her fingers. “I’ll get him nice and drunk in no time.”

“I think that’s what Derek needs,” Casey slurred, standing up straight. “He’s kind of become a stick in the mud since getting to university.”

“I’ve become a stick in the mud?” Derek scoffed drinking more of the pink liquid. He still didn’t know what was in it. “You have no clue what I’ve been doing this semester.”

“You’ve been watching lame YouTube videos and stalking people on Facebook, Derek,” Casey said stepping towards him and crossing her arms. “And you’d be doing that tonight if I hadn’t forced you to come out with us.”

“Woah, just because the two times you’ve seen me this semester, I was watching YouTube and using Facebook doesn’t mean I’ve become a stick in the mud, Casey. Alcohol makes you mean.”

“Whatever,” she said brushing her hair out of her face and walking towards him. “I’m going to make you have fun tonight and I don’t care what I have to do to, uh, do it.”

Derek looked down at her, noticing she was standing almost as close as when he had kissed her in his dorm. “Are you going to introduce me to your boyfriend, Casey?” Derek whispered to her.

Casey blinked up at him. “Ohmygosh,” she rushed with wide eyes, “Of course!”

Casey turned on her heels and grabbed Michael’s arm. He was standing over with Vivian, blissfully unaware of the weird confrontation Derek and Casey were having. “Michael, this is my stepbrother, Derek!”

“Riiight,” Michael said clapping Derek on the back. “The infamous ‘Der-ek’. I’ve heard so much about you, it’s nice to finally put a face to the name.”

“Yeah, some of us aren’t as active on social media,” Derek mused. Casey glared at him. “But it’s nice to meet you too. I haven’t heard anything about you. I guess Casey’s been trying to hide you from our family for as long as possible.”

Casey scoffed. “That is not true Der-ek!”

Michael laughed and pulled Casey into him. “That’s alright, babe. I know you’re embarrassed by me; you don’t have to pretend.”

Casey giggled as Michael buried his head in her neck. They were disgusting. 

Derek buried his face into his cup, drinking the sickly-sweet drink while the sickly-sweet couple started making out. He turned towards Vivian and cocked an eyebrow. “How do you deal with this?” he said smirking and wandering towards her.

“I just find my own guys to do that with. Helps me ignore them easier. I just think it’s boring to stick with one at a time.”

Derek laughed dryly. Casey was right, he and Vivian were going to get along. 

Three hours later when Derek was blissfully drunk and Casey was far out of his sight, he was finally enjoying himself. He had found a couple of girls to dance with and had finally gotten Casey and her boyfriend out of his mind for more than a few minutes. While he was about to seal the deal on a girl that didn’t look enough like Casey to make it weird in the morning, Vivian stormed up to him. “Derek, we have to go,” she huffed, her eyes shifting. 

“What? Why do we have to leave? I’m finally having fun like Casey wanted.”

“Yeah, well Michael is gone and Casey’s crying in the bathroom and she says she won’t go anywhere until I get you to come with us, so just help me get her home, and then you can hook up with whatever girl that’s dumb enough to fall for your charms after.”

Derek exhaled and rolled his eyes. He signaled to the girl he was with he’d be right back and nodded to Vivian to lead him to the bathroom where Casey was. Derek knocked lightly on the door “Ca-sey, it’s me, you can open up.”

After a few long seconds, the door cracked, “How do I know it’s actually you?” Casey whispered.

Derek rubbed his face. God she was really drunk. “Klutzilla, you know it’s me. Apparently, I’m the only one dumb enough to try to get his drunk stepsister out of the bathroom of a crowded sorority house.”

Casey sniffed and opened the door. She grabbed his arm and dragged him in, quickly closing the door and locking it. Vivian banged on the door. “Hey! You promised we’d go home if I got this stupid jerk! Casey!”

Casey sighed and sat down on the toilet, putting her head in her hands. Vivian gave up on the door, so it was just Derek and Casey and the muffled sounds of the party. “I’m so embarrassed,” Casey sobbed, not looking up at Derek. 

“I wouldn’t even put this in your top 10 embarrassing moments, Spacey.” Derek smiled and put his hands in his pockets. He had no clue what her problem was, but he figured he had no choice but to try and make her feel better. “I think falling down the stairs at school was probably worse than this.”

Casey gaped up at him. “Der-ek,” she breathed. He wasn’t sure if she was mad at him or not. “You don’t even know what happened.”

Derek shrugged and leaned against the sink crossing his arms. “I don’t really need to know what happened. I’m just here to take you home.”

“Take me home?” Casey repeated, her breathing became shallow.

Derek noticed the shift in her mood and immediately shifted. “Uh, you know, help you get home so you’re not crying in the bathroom at a party.”

“Right,” Casey nodded, wiping at her eyes. 

She wasn’t actively crying anymore, so Derek took that as a win. Casey stood up, wobbling a bit. Derek reached out to stabilize her. “Alright, Spacey, we don’t need you Klutizing it up in the bathroom. Let’s go.”

Derek reached for the doorknob, but Casey grabbed his wrist and looked up at him. “You really don’t want to know what happened?” she asked softly, Derek could barely hear her over the sound of his heartbeat.

Derek wasn’t sure if it was the alcohol playing tricks on him, but he swore Casey was looking at him the same way she looked at him the night they hooked up. “Do you really want to tell me?” Derek whispered, not breaking eye contact with her. 

She nodded, leaning more into him. Derek sighed and shifted slightly. Casey’s weight was bearing into his leg. She was warm and she smelled like she was made out of vodka. “Michael and me, and uh I, got into a dumb fight and I told him about us,” she said, just barely above a whisper.

Derek’s breath caught in his throat. He didn’t know how to respond, so he just blinked at her. Her eyes were wide, she was waiting for him to respond. He had to respond. “How’d he react?” Derek cringed, immediately regretting the words that came out of his mouth. 

“Not well,” she said pulling herself back from him, creating some distance between them they desperately needed. “I didn’t tell him everything. Just that we kissed when we were home for Thanksgiving. But he wasn’t happy about it, so he stormed off with someone. He wouldn’t even look at me.”

“Case,” Derek breathed wrapping his arms around her. She leaned into his chest. She wasn’t crying, but her eyes looked wet like she could start at any moment. 

She hiccupped and lowered her head. “I can’t believe I got drunk and told my boyfriend I kissed my stepbrother. Who does that?”

“Probably someone who’s real fucked up.”

Casey laughed, wiping at her cheeks. “You’re so right. I am so fucked up. But—” Casey paused and blinked a couple of times. Her voice lowered; she was barely breathing. “I don’t regret any of it.”

“You’re drunk,” Derek teased, nudging her with his shoulder.

“That doesn’t make it not true.”

“Let’s get you home,” Derek said moving behind Casey and putting his hands on her shoulders. He led her out of the house and into cold night. 

The walk back to Casey’s dorm took twice as long as the walk to the party. Casey wasn’t very good at walking while intoxicated, so Derek had to drag/carry her most of the way. When they finally got to the dorm building Derek was both freezing due to giving Casey his coat and sweating from physical exertion. Derek panted up the stairs cursing himself for not doing more cardio between practices.

After a five-minute struggle of Casey getting her key and dropping it and then accidentally smacking Derek in the face when she tried to unlock the door, Derek finally shooed her into the room. He felt his shoulders drop from relief of getting her home.

Casey twirled around the room, struggling to get Derek’s jacket off of her shoulders. Derek sighed and walked over to her, steadying her by her shoulders. He quietly took the jacket off and threw it on her desk. “Thank you for getting me home safe,” Casey said softly looking at him through her lashes.

Derek cleared his throat, “You know I always get you home safe. No matter what.”

“I know,” she breathed. 

They stood in tense silence. Derek wasn’t sure if he should step forward or take a step back. Why was everything always so messy with Casey?

“Derek?” she whispered.

“Hmm?” was all Derek could manage. He could barely breathe.

“Can you stay with me tonight?”

“I don’t think that’s the best idea.”

“I don’t want to, uh, do, uh, anything. I just—don’t want to sleep alone tonight.”

Derek sighed. Casey pouted up at him. How could he say no? “Yeah, Space Case, I can stay.”

They settled onto Casey’s bed. It was just as small as Derek’s bed, so personal space was not going to exist tonight, Derek figured. So, he wrapped his arms around her and pressed his face into her hair. “You’re my knight in shining armor,” Casey mused.

Derek chuckled, “Can I get that in writing?”

“No, and if anyone asks if I said that, I’ll deny it.”

“Still living in denial? That always was your specialty.”

Casey groaned softly. “I’ve never been good at accepting reality. It’s so much better living in my own little world.”

“I prefer when you live in the real world.”

“Since when do I care about what you prefer?”

“Why don’t we go back to you calling me your knight in shining armor?”

Casey didn’t respond. Derek heard soft snores coming from her. He buried his head in her hair, it was soft and warm and made him feel comfortable. Why hadn’t he been sleeping in Casey’s bed this whole time? “I don’t regret any of this either, Casey” Derek whispered into her hair. He fell asleep to the sound of Casey, getting the first good night’s sleep he’d had for weeks. 

“Good morning, Lovebirds!” Vivian exclaimed bursting into the room.

Casey groaned and rubbed her hands on her face. Derek refused to open his eyes, a pounding headache preventing him from rational thought.

“I guess we won’t be telling Michael about this one, will we?” Vivian smirked, sitting in her desk chair.

Casey sat up and buried her head in her hands. “It’s too early for this,” she moaned.

“It’s 10am,” Vivian mused, brushing her blonde hair out. She was wearing her clothes from last night and looked like the epitome of the walk of shame. Not that Casey and Derek looked much better.

“Can I at least take some Tylenol before you question my life choices?” Casey groaned.

“I don’t think Tylenol is going to help you fix all of this. But whatever, I’m going to go shower. I hope you’re decent when I get back.” Vivian chuckled and flitted from the room. 

Casey gave out another small moan. “I am never drinking again,” She said rolling off of the bed. “I need fluids and drugs asap or I’m going to die.”

Derek rolled onto his side and propped his head on his hand. “Last night was rough. But at least it wasn’t as rough as you look right now. No wonder you didn’t want to spend the night a few weeks ago, you look terrible in the morning.”

“Der-ek!” Casey said smoothing her hair as much as she could. “My hair would probably look better if you didn’t drool into it all night.”

Casey grabbed a medicine bottle off of her desk and grabbed some pills from it. She tossed it to Derek and it hit him in the face. “Wow, Case, your aim is getting better, I have to say.”  
“Was that a compliment from Derek Venturi? Let me mark it in my calendar.”

“Don’t get used to it, it’s really difficult to find things to compliment.”

Casey began to brush her hair ignoring Derek for the time being. He watched her from her bed, not sure if he should get up to leave or wait until they could talk about last night. He didn’t know what he would say, but he felt like there was a lot to talk about. Casey started cleaning her face off without looking at Derek. He sat in excruciating silence watching her. “So,” Derek started, sitting on the side of the bed, “are we going to talk at all?”

“Was that light banter not good enough for you, Der?”

“Maybe I would enjoy the banter more if you were better at it.” Derek crossed his arms and stood up to stand behind her. 

Casey scoffed and turned around to face him. “Oh, you only enjoy banter when the girl is half-naked.”

Derek stepped towards her. “Well, that could always be arranged.” He murmured staring down at her.

Casey put her hand on his chest and pushed him back a little. “Derek,” she started. She looked up at him, but her eyes looked sad. “You know I have a boyfriend.”

“Oh,” Derek said taking a step back. “I just—”

“No, it’s fine,” Casey said blushing. “I know that didn’t stop me before. I’m just so embarrassed and I had that stupid fight with Michael last night and I can’t even remember why. I just feel like I need to figure all of this out before anything—”

“Casey, don’t worry about it,” Derek interrupted grabbing his jacket. “You’re right, you need to work out whatever you’ve got going on with your love life. Don’t let me get in the way of you and Michael.”

Casey grabbed his arm. “Derek,” she breathed.

Derek brushed her off and headed to the door. “Just, uh, don’t be a stranger anymore, okay?”

“Wait,” Casey rushed, “uh, thank you for everything last night. I really appreciated you being there for me.”

Derek nodded and left the room without another word.


	3. Said I'm fine, but it Wasn't True

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes people study in college, sometimes people show up at their stepbrother's dorm in a short skirt. Both are valid.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Forgive me for having everyone cheat on each other all the time, I've been listening to Ivy by Taylor Swift too much, oops. Anyway, this chapter has a new character and new drama 😊

Derek twirled his pencil and stared at the brunette sitting across from him. He was supposed to be studying for finals, but all he could think about was taking her back to his dorm. The lights in the library were too bright and there were too many people around for it to be romantic. “So, uh, how’s your studying going?” he asked hoping to distract her from her textbook. 

“It’s going really well, actually, Derek. Now focus on your notes.” She responded glaring at him.

“I would, but I don’t have any notes.”

“You don’t have any notes?” she chuckled. “How did you even get into this school?”

“My dazzling personality?” He smiled at her. “And being a hockey star.”

“Athletics in school are a parasite. You should be kicked out.”

“You’d miss me if I was kicked out.”

“I’d get much better grades if you were kicked out.” She closed her textbook and looked at him. “You are annoying and distracting and insanely irresistible.”

“I like to call it the Venturi charm.”

She scoffed and started packing up her stuff. “We’re studying when we get back to your dorm, Derek. Mark my words, you’re going to pass your finals this semester. I’m not sending you back to your family with your tail between your legs.”

Derek smirked and started putting his books in his backpack. “I always go home to my family with my tail between my legs.”

Once they were packed up Derek grabbed her hand. They headed out of the library together and started towards Derek’s dorm building. “You know, I was supposed to rub off on you. Be a good influence, but I think you’ve been influencing me.”

“Look, there is nothing wrong with taking a short study break. Having some fun is good for you, Allison.”

Allison rolled her eyes and pulled away from Derek, stretching their arms. Derek quickly pulled her back and pulled the girl into his chest. He stared down at her, feeling like they were the only two people on campus. He lowered his face to hers and placed a gentle kiss on her lips. “It’s fucking cold,” she breathed into his lips laughing.

Derek laughed and pulled her forward towards his dorm. They quickened their steps, hurrying to get out of the cold. 

They got to Derek’s dorm and started peeling off their layers. “There are too many clothes in winter,” Derek groaned grabbing the scarf around Allison’s neck and pulling her towards him. 

“You’re going to choke me!” she giggled putting her hands on his chest.

Derek pulled her as close as he could. “I thought you liked that,” he growled. He gave her a rough kiss and started guiding her towards his bed. 

Derek threw his coat on the ground and helped Allison get her coat off, trying to thin out the layers between them. Derek sat down on the side of his bed and pulled her onto his lap. They continued to make out on his bed, slowly removing their clothing when there was a knock on the door. Derek groaned. “Zach, I’m busy, remember your key next time.”

Derek returned to the girl laying on top of him when there was another knock. Derek sighed. “Let me go get rid of him,” he whispered as he rolled Allison onto the bed. 

He put his shirt back on while he crossed the room. “Look, Zach, I’ve got compa—” Derek said opening the door. He stopped in his tracks when he saw a shorter brunette girl standing there instead of a tall black guy. “Casey.”

“Hey Derek,” Casey said softly, “I was wondering if you needed a study partner.”

Derek cleared his throat and rubbed the back of his neck. “We were, uh, actually taking a study break.”

“We?” Casey asked, her eyes widening.

Allison came up behind Derek. “Hey,” Allison said putting her arm around Derek’s waist. “Is that someone here to get us back on track?”

Derek blinked slowly. “Allison, this is Casey,” Derek mumbled awkwardly. “Casey, this is Allison, my—study partner.”

Allison glanced up at him, silently asking who the hell this girl at his door was. “Nice to meet you, Casey! Here to join the study party?”

Casey looked up at Derek and swallowed. “I’d love to.”

A few hours later, after they had combed through most of their notes and eaten most of Derek’s snacks, Allison rolled onto her back in defeat. “I am so dead. I don’t think anything else will fit in my brain.”

Derek groaned and looked over at her. “I tried saying that hours ago, but you still made me study more.”

Allison threw a pillow at him. “That was at 8pm, not 1am. I think we’ve studied enough; I’m going to head out.”

Allison stood up and stretched. Derek’s eyes followed her movement. He quickly shifted his gaze to Casey to see her reaction. She was staring at her phone not paying any attention. “Do you want me to walk you home?” Derek said standing up next to her.

Allison giggled. “How polite of you. But no, it’s right next door and it’s super cold. Casey, do you need an escort home?”

Casey looked up suddenly. “Oh, no. I don’t. My boyfriend, Michael, is going to come pick me up. He just texted me.”

Allison shrugged. “Sounds good to me,” she stated turning back to Derek. “I had a really nice time tonight, Derek. Call me tomorrow?”

Derek leaned into her. “Of course, I will,” he said softly leaning down to kiss her gently on the lips. He quickly glanced at Casey, but she was absorbed in her phone again. “Text me when you get home.”

Allison headed towards the door. “It was really nice meeting you, Casey,” Allison called over to the girl pulling her attention away from her phone. “And good luck on your Spanish final on Monday!”

“Thanks, Allison. It was great meeting you too. Have a good rest of your semester!”

Allison smiled at Derek and left. Derek shut the door behind her and slowly turned to Casey who was still camped out on the floor with a textbook in her lap. She was staring at her phone again and didn’t look in Derek’s direction. “So,” Derek started ambling over towards her, “when is Michael going to come get you?”

“What?” Casey asked, her eyes snapping up from her phone.

“Uh, Michael?” Derek said sitting on his bed facing her. “Your boyfriend? Coming to pick you up?”

“Oh.” Casey blushed, avoiding looking at Derek. “He’s, uh, not coming.”

Derek blinked at her waiting for an explanation that never came. Casey was again looking down at her phone, her eyes tearing up. Derek stood up and walked over to her, snatching her phone out of her hand. “Hey!” she said, trying to get it back from him.

“I kind of wanted to have a conversation with you, Spacey. This thing makes it kind of hard.”

Casey huffed. “I don’t really want to talk about it.”

“So, you just planned on sleeping on my floor tonight? What’s the game plan, Case?”

“Allison is really nice,” Casey said, ignoring his questions. “How long has that been going on?”

“A couple weeks. I really like her.”

Casey let out a breath. “That’s great,” she whispered, almost inaudibly.

Derek shifted. “I actually met her at that party. Turns out we have a class together. Study partners and all of that.”

“I’m really happy for you.” Casey’s voice broke. She put her head down.

Derek inhaled deeply. “What happened, Case? Why’d you lie about Michael coming to get you?”

“He broke up with me today,” Casey muttered avoiding eye contact. “I came here because I didn’t know where else to go. I didn’t know someone else would be here.”

Derek crossed his arms. “Ah, I see.”

“I’m so stupid,” Casey said putting her head in her hands.

Derek went over to her. He grabbed her arms and pulled her off of the ground and into his arms. They stood there for a minute, Casey burying her head in his chest. “You’re not stupid,” he said pushing her so he could look into her eyes. “You just taught Allison a mnemonic device for remembering the structure of a cell. That’s pretty damn smart.”

Casey chuckled lightly and wiped the tears off of her cheeks. “Why are you being so nice to me?”

“Because it’s 1am and I’m trying to go to bed,” he said flatly, giving her a wry smile. “Because you’re hurting and despite what you’ve been telling yourself for the past 4 years, I’m actually not that bad.”

Casey sighed and pulled away from him. “I don’t actually think you’re that bad. You’re just annoying.”

“Thanks for clearing that up.”

Casey stared at the ground. Derek noticed she was wearing the same skirt she was wearing the day they had kissed on break and couldn’t help but wonder if she came to his room for another reason. He brushed her hair away from her face. “Look,” he whispered, “Zach is at his girlfriend’s dorm. You can sleep in my bed and I’ll sleep in his. You don’t have to go back to your dorm. But I really like Allison and I don’t want to do anything that could mess it up.”

Casey nodded. “I understand. I really like her too. Thank you, again. For everything.”

Derek gave her one last hug and then went over to his dresser. He tossed her a t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants. “Here, you can wear these to sleep in if you want. They’re clean.”

Casey sniffed. “Thanks…. Again.” She whispered. 

Derek wandering over to her and put his hands on her shoulders. Leaning down to look her dead in the eyes he whispered “You don’t have to thank me so much. It’s what anyone would do. Get changed and go to bed. I’m fucking tired.”

Casey chuckled softly. “I owe you for this one.”

“You can buy me breakfast,” Derek said winking.

“Good morning, love,” a voice whispered in Derek’s ear.

His eyes shot open. There was a boy staring at him, his face close enough that Derek could kiss him if he wanted. “Morning, Zach,” Derek muttered, pulling his face back and rubbing his eyes.

Zach stood up and crossed his arms. “What are you doing in my bed, Venturi? Don’t you usually sleep in the bed with the girl? Or do you just like the way my sheets smell?”

Derek sat up in the bed and stretched his arms. “Look, my friend was having a hard time, so I let her sleep here. Nothing crazy happened, just sleeping.”

Zach nodded, looking like he was contemplating something really important. “Makes sense, makes sense. But, uh, get out of my fucking bed.” 

“You’re mean in the morning,” Derek said under his breath. 

Derek rolled his eyes and pulled back the sheet. He did a quick glance over to his bed to see Casey was still lying there, back to him and facing the wall. He quickly got out of Zach’s bed and wandered towards his own. He was always unsure about what to do when it came to Casey. If he was dating her, he wouldn’t have slept in a different bed and would be kissing her neck to wake her up. But he did sleep in a different bed and he wasn’t dating her—not that he wanted to. He walked over to the bed and confirmed that she was still sleeping, so he decided to take a shower to wash off the smell of Zach.

Derek went back into the room in just a towel. Zach had come and gone from the room with the only evidence of him being there a slightly open drawer in his dresser. Casey was sitting on Derek’s bed, chewing on her thumbnail and scrolling through something on her phone. When Derek walked in, she looked up, her mouth gently falling open. “What?” Derek mused, secretly enjoying Casey gaping at him. “You’ve seen me in a towel before. Shit, you’ve seen me naked before.”

“Never so early in the morning,” she whispered looking back down at her phone. “Since when are you an early bird? I woke up and you were gone.”

Derek went over to the closet to get some clothes. “My roommate is an early bird and he kicked me out of his bed. I wouldn’t have kicked such a handsome man out of bed but to each his own.”

Casey scoffed and got out of bed. She wandered over towards the closet, eyeing Derek. Derek turned towards her, covering his chest with a shirt. “Hey! Can’t a man change in private? You pervert.”

Casey backed up putting her hands up in surrender. “The Venturi charm has a very strong magnetic pull, what can I say?”

Derek stepped forward out of the closet. He decided the McDonald charm was also pretty magnetic. He walked to her and put his hand on her waist, leaning into her until their lips almost touched. Casey hesitated and leaned her head back. “What about Allison?” She breathed, not completely backing away from him. 

“We’re not exclusive,” he whispered back wrapping his arm around her waist.

“Derek,” Casey closed her eyes and stepped back.

Derek groaned and backed away from her. “What the fuck, Casey?”

Casey took a small step back, giving Derek an incredulous look. “What?” She snapped putting her hands on her hips. “You’re upset with me because I don’t want you to mess up something good that you have? Does that make me a bad person?”

Derek rubbed his hands on his face. “No, that doesn’t make you a bad person. What makes you a bad person is how you have been treating me these past few months. You come to my dorm and have me help you cheat on your boyfriend. Then you want to be friends, which is fine, but friends don’t spoon with their friends and they also don’t show up to their dorm expecting to spend the night.”

“Some friends do,” Casey murmured looking at the ground.

“Well, they sure as hell don’t ghost their friends for weeks at a time and show up to try and sleep with them when they’re upset at their boyfriend. Casey, you’re driving me insane.”

“I’m just—just a little confused.”

“You’re confused?!” Derek exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air. “You are confusing. I don’t know what you want from me.”

“I care about you—”

“You care about me. That’s rich. You only seem to care about me when you and Michael are having problems.”

Casey didn’t say anything, she just stared at the ground and dug her toe into the carpet. Derek went and sat on the side of his bed and put his head in his hands. He was frustrated and tired and confused. Casey walked over to him and sat next to him. He cringed at the feeling of the mattress sinking. She put her arm around his shoulder. She didn’t know what to say, so she just said, “I think I owe you breakfast.”

Derek sighed. “I think I’ll take a raincheck on the breakfast, Case. I want to focus on finals.”

He looked up at her. She nodded and got up from the bed. “I completely understand,” she said, her voice breaking. “Studying is a good idea.”

She grabbed her backpack off of the ground, threw on her shoes, and rushed out of the dorm without another word.

Derek sat on his bed for another few minutes before he got up and grabbed his phone. As he walked over to his phone, he noticed that Casey’s skirt was still sitting on his desk, neatly folded, meaning she had stolen his shirt and sweatpants. Derek groaned and tried not to think of Casey wearing his clothes. He decided to text Allison and ask her to get breakfast.


	4. So Cut the Headlights

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's time for Casey and Derek to go back home to London for winter break

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I passed my ACLS today, so I decided to post another chapter to celebrate. Unfortunately, I'm going back to work tomorrow after being off, so I probably won't update for a while, but here is some Dasey fluff to start the week. I hope the few people reading this are enjoying it, I am enjoying writing it. It's time for Casey and Derek to have a good time, but that doesn't mean they are out of the woods. Let me know what you think 😊
> 
> Just FYI: the ~ indicates text messages because I have no idea how to use HTML or rich text to get pictures or anything that looks good in here and I do not have the patience to figure it out.

Derek spent the next week studying and taking tests and ignoring texts from Casey. By the end of the week, Derek had passed all of his finals and had a total of 56 unread texts from Casey. As he packed up his bag for his impending trip back home to London, he was dreading having to finally suck it up and talk to Casey. Since they did technically live together back home, it meant a very tense 4-hour car ride was in his future. Zach and Allison had already left for break, which meant he had no one to distract him from thinking about Casey and being alone with her in a car the next day. 

Derek threw his bag on the ground and flopped on his bed, grabbing his phone. He had another unread message from Casey. He sighed and decided to open it. 

~You can’t keep ignoring me, Derek. I need a ride for tomorrow.~

He contemplated a response for a minute when the typing bubbles appeared on the screen.

~You have on read receipts, asshole~

Derek groaned. He really needed to change that setting. He sat with his thumbs above the screen, not sure if he should be sarcastic or sincere when a call came in from Casey. He sighed and answered the call. “Hello?”

“Derek, thank god you answered. What the hell? I’ve sent you a million texts this week. I need to know the plans for going back home.”

Derek paused for a second. “I know,” he sighed rubbing his temple. “I kind of fucked that one up.”

“My mom keeps asking me what the plan is, but I don’t know the plan since you decided not to talk to me anymore. Which I understand, but when you’re my only way home, I kind of expect you to at least respond with a time!”

“I’ve just been busy this week, Case. I had a lot of tests to take.”

Casey paused for a moment. “Are you hungry?” She asked.

Derek cocked an eyebrow and glanced over at his clock. It was 8pm and he hadn’t eaten dinner yet and he was guessing Casey hadn’t either. But he wasn’t sure eating a meal with her was the best idea. “I could eat,” he said non-committal.

“Well, I think I owe you a meal. What do you say we plan tomorrow’s trip over some pizza?”

Derek sighed. He couldn’t say no to pizza and Casey knew that. “That sounds good,” he said swinging his legs off of his bed. “I’ll pick you up in 5.”

“Perfect,” Casey responded. Derek could hear the smile in her voice.

Derek instinctively went to his mirror and checked his hair. Then he shook his head, what the hell was he doing? He didn’t make sure he looked good before hanging out with Casey. He groaned and grabbed his keys. He really needed to get his priorities straightened out before this car ride tomorrow.

He pulled up in front of Casey’s dorm building to find her already standing there, bundled up. “What the hell are you doing?” Derek laughed as she got in the car, she rubbed her hands together for warmth. “It’s like -5 outside.”

“I’m starving,” she replied with a smile. “Hurry up and drive, chauffeur.”

Derek chuckled and started towards the pizza place. “If I’m your chauffeur, you should be sitting in the back.”

“This isn’t high school; I don’t spend time in the backseat of cars anymore.”

Derek cleared his throat and smirked. “You’re never too old for the backseat of a car. I don’t think you were in the right cars.”

Derek glanced over at Casey and saw a blush rise on her cheeks. The conversation was already getting suggestive and they hadn’t even eaten food yet. “Is a 1991 Volkswagen the right car?”

Derek shifted in his seat. “It can be for some people. But not everyone can handle it.”

“Is that because of the smell?” Casey joked, scrunching up her nose and glancing around the car.

Derek laughed. His worries about tomorrow were melting away. They pulled into the pizza place. Derek took a deep breath and stepped out of the car. He could do this; he could eat one dinner with Casey and not get into some stupid fight. 

“So, how did your finals go?” Casey asked after they sat down at a booth in the back. She was occupying herself with the label of the crushed red pepper flakes.

Derek shrugged. “They were fine. I passed all of them, so I think I’m doing college right.”

Casey chuckled looking up at him. “Maybe now you have some good influences.”

“I’ve always had good influences. I’ve just never listened to them.”

“How’s Allison?” Casey asked wistfully. 

“She’s good, I guess. She left for break yesterday after our biology final. And I think she reminded me we’re not exclusive while we said goodbye.”

Casey’s eyes went wide. “She did what?”

“Well, I don’t speak girl, but she said, ‘I can’t wait to pick this back up when we get back from break.’”

Casey let out a barking laugh. “She fed you one of your own lines!”

Derek chuckled, his cheeks going red. He sipped his soda, trying to ease the embarrassment he felt about Casey recognizing his “moves”. “I think I’m being played” he chuckled, looking around the room. “If I said that to a girl, she would never hear from me again.”

Casey laughed awkwardly. “I don’t think she’s playing you,” she said stirring her soda with her straw. “I think she just likes you but doesn’t want to tie you down too soon… Or maybe she has a guy back home she wants to hook up with guilt-free.”

Derek groaned. “Knowing Allison, it’s the latter. Ugh, I wish girls didn’t treat me like a piece of meat.”

Casey scoffed. “Girls treating you like a piece of meat? Priceless.” 

“Yes, Casey. Girls treat me like a piece of meat. Specifically, one girl who only comes to my dorm when she has a fight with her boyfriend.”

Casey’s mouth shot open, but before she could respond the server set down their pizza. “Is there anything else I can get for you guys?” the server asked, blissfully unaware of the impending argument between the two of them. 

Derek smiled at her. “No, we’ve got enough meat at the table, we should be fine.”

“Okay?” the server said giving them a confused look before heading back to the front of a restaurant.

“Der-ek!” Casey exclaimed, giving Derek a look meant to kill. “That is so not what happened between us.”

Derek grabbed a piece of pizza and smirked at her. “Really, Case? Cause that’s what it looked like from my point of view. But please, enlighten me on why you slept with me.”

Casey grabbed a slice of pizza and chewed on the end of it, not responding. “I slept with you because I couldn’t get you out of my head, Derek, “ she finally whispered looking down at the table. “You were all I thought about at the end of October.”

Derek cleared his throat. He wasn’t expecting that answer. He took a moment to respond, creating tension between the two of them. “I couldn’t stop thinking about you either,” he confessed.

He stared at her hand resting on the table, contemplating grabbing it and rubbing her fingers with his thumb. All he wanted to do was touch her, have some physical contact with her to ease the tension. He finally looked up at her face to see her staring back at him, a sad look in her eyes.

Neither of them spoke, they just stared at each other and ate their pizza, hoping the other one would break the silence first. Derek shifted and grabbed another slice of pizza shoving it in his mouth, so he didn’t have to speak first. They sat in silence for a few minutes, the second hand on the clock on the wall across from them moving at a glacial speed. “Why didn’t you break up with him?” Derek asked finally, shifting his eyes away from hers, not wanting to look at her when she answered his question. 

Casey winced at his question. She didn’t have an answer for him, so she just sipped at her soda, her mind reeling. What was she supposed to say? “I was scared,” she blurted out, immediately regretting it. She took a deep breath preparing for the worst.

Derek put his head in his hands, rubbing his forehead. “You think I wasn’t?” He responded, still not looking her in the eyes.

“I never said that,” Casey said quietly.

She reached over and grabbed his hand. He finally looked up at her, into her blue eyes. He was so screwed. 

They got back to his dorm after sitting in the stiffest sexual tension Derek had ever experienced. He immediately kissed her, pushing her against the door after he closed it. She ran her fingers through his hair, kissing him back with so much intensity Derek thought he would die right on the spot. Derek pushed himself into her, needing to be as close to her as he possibly could. They had spent far too much time not touching each other. Casey wrapped one leg around his waist. He grabbed her other leg, hoisting her up. He lifted her and carried her to his bed, laying her down gently and laying on top of her. Casey kept her legs wrapped around his waist as he started kissing her neck. Neither of them said a word, not wanting to ruin something that was months in the making. 

Casey let out a moan as Derek moved down her torso, take his time, finding every pressure spot, and making sure to kiss it slowly. When they hooked up the first time it was desperate, both of them knowing it was wrong. This time, nothing was wrong, nothing was getting in the way. It was just the two of them, alone in Derek’s dorm room. 

Since Casey didn’t insist on leaving his dorm and walking across campus at 11:30pm, Derek woke up with his arms wrapped around her. His face was burrowed in her hair and all he could smell was lavender and coconut. He wanted to stay in bed for the rest of the day. Casey groaned next to him, stirring awake. A smile crept on Derek’s lips, he loved every noise that came out of her, even when she was yelling at him. Derek nuzzled her neck. “Good morning, sunshine,” he whispered in her ear.

Casey chuckled and then gave another small groan, rubbing her eyes. “Since when are you a morning person?” She asked, shifting a little, trying to look towards him. 

Derek coughed and shifted towards the wall so Casey could turn and face him. They laid on their sides, face-to-face. Derek reached out and kissed her nose and gave her a smile. “I slept really well last night.”

Casey blushed. “I didn’t sleep too bad either. But I would’ve slept better if someone hadn’t hogged all the covers.”

Derek feigned a look of offense. “Criticized in my own bed? Tragic. How about a ‘thank you for your hospitality, Der-ek’”

Casey giggled. “I don’t sound like that,” she complained pushing his shoulder. 

Casey’s phone buzzed on the nightstand. Derek reached over her and grabbed it before she could. “Hey!” Casey complained about Derek half laying on top of her. “You’re heavy, you jerk! And that’s my phone!”

Derek laughed and laid on top of her. He pinned her arms above her head and dangled her phone in her face. “I just want to see who’s texting you at 7am on a Sunday,” Derek said, smiling.

Casey rolled her eyes. “It’s probably my mom. I told her last night you still hadn’t told me when we were leaving. Just give me my phone, Derek.”

“Yeah, I think she called me last night, but I was a little busy.” Derek turned on the screen. Sitting at the top of her notifications was a text from Michael. “So, your ex-boyfriend is sending you good morning texts. How sweet.”

Derek’s grip on her hands loosened. Casey ripped her hand out and grabbed her phone. “Who is texting me is none of your business, Der-ek.” She muttered, tapping at her phone.

Derek rolled off of her and ran his hand through his hair. “Then why do you keep making it my business? Were you talking to him last night before you asked me to dinner?”

Casey sat up and wrapped the sheet around herself. “I asked you to dinner because you were ignoring me all week. It had nothing to do with Michael.”

“We could’ve organized our trip without getting dinner. Did you sleep with me because you were upset about Michael?”

Casey sighed and put her head in her hands. “Derek, can you just forget about this? What happened last night has nothing to do with Michael. I wasn’t planning on having sex with you when I asked you to get dinner. Right now, I’m wishing I had never slept with you in the first place.”

Derek scoffed. “Whatever, Casey. You’ve got some shit to work through. I just wish you’d stop using me to do it.”

Derek got off of the bed and pulled a pair of pants on. He kept his back towards her, attempting to hide the dejected look he couldn’t keep off of his face. Casey stayed on the bed, wrapping her arms around her legs. “Derek,” Casey whispered, staring at the back of his head. “You know I didn’t mean that.”

Derek finally turned to look at her, his usual indignant look on his face. “You know what, Casey,” he started, crossing his arms, “I don’t know. I don’t know anything about you this year. The Casey I do know would never cheat on her boyfriend and would never want to not talk about her feelings, even when no one else wants to hear them. The Casey I know would have already written a poem about this whole thing and then made me listen to it. The Casey I know wouldn’t sleep with someone she didn’t have feelings for. The Casey sitting on my bed right now? I don’t know her.”

Casey gaped at him, unable to respond. “Just because I’m not really writing poetry right now—" Casey murmured.

“Casey!” Derek exclaimed, interrupting her. “That’s really what you’re going to respond to? What is wrong with you?”

Casey sat up, letting the sheet fall off of her, too upset to worry about covering up. “I’m just as confused as you, Derek! You tortured me for years and then all of a sudden you kissed me! And it confused me because I liked it! And maybe I’m a little upset because I might be falling for my stepbrother. Which is so beyond fucked up—”

“Falling for?” Derek interrupted, mouth wide open.

The two of them stared at each other in silence, neither of them knowing what to say. Finally, Casey cleared her throat and nodded. She tried to say something, but her voice got caught in her throat. Derek moved towards her, close enough to touch. Casey reached out and grabbed the waistband of his pants and pulled him towards her. Derek leaned down and put his forehead on hers. “You’re right,” Derek whispered to her. “It is so fucked up to be into your stepsibling. But you’re not the only one.”

“I did write a poem about this if you wanted to read it—” Casey started.

Derek laughed. "Shut up, Casey," he said leaning down to kiss her.

Two hours later, Casey was on the phone with her mom, and Derek was lying in his bed watching her pace around the room. “Yes, mom, I’ve talked to Derek. No, he had a good reason to fall off the face of the planet. No, it wasn’t that. No, he didn’t leave without me. We’re going to leave soon, we just need to figure it out. No, I haven’t talked to Emily today. Yes, I’m excited to see her soon. Mom, I’ve got to go get ready, I think Derek is going to pick me up soon. Yes, we will both wear our seatbelts. I can’t promise you that. Because he’s a terrible driver! Yes, I did offer to drive. What do you think? Yes. Yes. No. Yes. If you want to talk to Derek, why don’t you call him? He’s ignoring your calls? No, I don’t know. Yes. Okay. Yes. Okay, I love you, mom. I’ll text you when we leave.”

Casey hung up the phone and threw it on Derek’s desk. “Ugh, my mom is so annoying sometimes,” she said wandering over to the bed. “She told me that you need to drive the speed limit.”

Derek gasped. “I always go at least the speed limit.” He chuckled and sat up in the bed. “Did she think I left you here?”

Casey sighed and leaned into him. “Since Emily had picked me up on the way home for Thanksgiving, she thought maybe you left without thinking about me. Which makes sense since you’ve ignored all of her calls and texts this week.”

“It’s nothing against her. I also ignored all of my dad’s calls and texts.” He wrapped his arms around Casey’s neck as she rolled her eyes at him. “See, that’s the difference between you and me. People expect me to ignore them, it lessens their expectation of me. But when you do it, people freak out.”

Casey arched her eyebrows. “People freak out? Are you talking about a certain someone that didn’t get a response from me for a couple of weeks?”

Derek barked out a laugh. “Me? No, I don’t freak out when you don’t text me. I celebrate it.” 

Casey rolled her eyes. “Whatever, Derek. Deny it all you want, but a couple hours ago you admitted to having feelings for me—”

“I didn’t say I had feelings for you, I said I was into you. Big difference.”

Casey lightly smacked him on the side of the head. “Have you really learned nothing in the past year? You’re incorrigible.” 

“Don’t use big words with me, McDonald.” Derek chuckled, kissing her cheek and pulling her closer.

Casey closed her eyes and leaned into him burying her head in his hair. “We should probably get going,” she whispered in his ear.

Derek groaned and put his forehead on her shoulder. “Why don’t we just stay another day? We won’t even have to put on clothes.”

Casey giggled, considering it. She rolled her head back and sighed. “Der-ek,” she moaned as he kissed her neck. “My mom is expecting us back today.”

“Just blame it on me. Tell her I did something irresponsible and we got stuck here.” He said rubbing his hands up and down her back. “Get creative, she’ll believe it.”

Casey groaned and pulled back. “Come on, we have a 4-hour car ride, we might as well get it over with. I just need to stop at my dorm and get dressed and get my bag.”

Derek laid back on his bed. “You’re really going to make me go home today and see my family? After spending the night with a beautiful girl?”

Casey scoffed. “Your stupid sweet talk won’t work on me, Derek. I’m immune to it. Come on, get up, I don’t want to walk, it’s cold.”

An hour and two fights later, Derek and Casey started on the road. Derek tensed at the steering wheel, anticipating a 4-hour talk about feelings. He glanced over a Casey who was absorbed in her phone. What was with her? He gave her another 5 minutes, lightly tapping his hands on the steering wheel while he waited. When Casey didn’t say anything, he cleared his throat and looked over at her again. “Are you going to say anything?” he said.

Casey looked up from her phone at him. “What do you mean?”

“Are we going to sit in silence for 4 hours?”

“Oh,” Casey said, her eyes wide. “Do you want to play a road trip game?”

“A road trip game?” Derek repeated giving Casey an incredulous look. “You’re not going to say anything? About anything?”

“We haven’t gotten as much snow this year, which is good,” Casey said passively, picking at her fingernails. 

Derek scrunched his eyebrows. “You don’t want to talk about anything. Anything that might have happened last night? Or this morning?”

Casey gave him a puzzled look. “Derek, are you saying you want to talk about your feelings?”

“What?! No! I thought you would want to.”

Casey cackled. “Oh, this is good. This is so funny.”

“What?” Derek said giving her a sideways look. “What is funny?”

“You!” she exclaimed clapping her hands together and laughing. “You so want to talk about us. It’s driving you crazy!”

“It is not driving me crazy. I just mentally prepared for a 4-hour conversation where you talked at me about us. If you don’t want to have it, that is perfectly fine with me.”

“Well good,” Casey said putting her hands together on her lap, “because I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Good,” Derek said nodding his head and keeping his eyes on the road.

They sat in silence for a minute, Derek tapping his hands on the steering wheel and Casey staring down at her phone. Derek glanced at her again. “What do you mean you don’t want to talk about it? Why?”

Casey sighed and put her phone down. “I just don’t think there’s anything to talk about.”

Derek nodded. “Okay, yeah, you’re right.” He kept his eyes on the road and sat for a minute. “You really don’t think there’s anything to talk about?”

“No, Derek, I don’t think there’s anything to talk about. I’m at a place in my life where I am okay with what we have, whatever it is. I don’t need any definitions or labels or commitments. Because honestly, that’s not what I want right now. I just got out of a relationship, the last thing I want is something that is more than what it needs to be. And I understand you have a lot more going on in your life emotionally, with Allison and all of that, but I don’t.” Casey cleared her throat and waited for Derek to say something. When he didn’t, she continued. “Now, if you need to talk about your feelings, I’m here for you. Talk away.”

Derek’s eyes darted between her and the road. His mouth was slightly open, a confused look on his face. “Who are you and what have you done to Casey?” was all he could manage.

Casey chuckled softly and looked over at him. “Derek, I’m not in high school anymore. At one point, yes, I would have wanted to figure out what all of this meant and if you wanted to start a relationship with me or whatever, but I’m so past that now. I had fun with you, and that’s all that I need right now. Do I know where any of this is going? Hell no! But I don’t think that is something we have to worry about right now. We have almost a month of break before we ever need to touch any of that stuff. Let’s just enjoy ourselves and make bad decisions until reality catches up to us. Is that okay with you?”

Derek chewed his lip. “The new Casey scares me,” he said finally, glancing over at her. 

Casey chuckled softly, “She kind of scares me too. But in a good way.”

Derek exhaled sharply. “Well, okay,” Derek said shortly. “That settles it. We’ll have some fun over break.”

“That’s all I want,” Casey said with a nod.

Derek smirked over at her. “That means we’ll have to sneak around.” Casey blushed and looked over out the window in an attempt to hide it. Derek glanced over at her again, looking her up and down. “Probably means you’ll have to spend some time in the backseat of a car again, Case. Think you can handle it?”

Casey glanced into the back seat and gave Derek a small smile. “It’s not as nice as Max’s dad’s car, but I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

Derek gaped at her. “Max’s dad’s car? Is that the romantic place you lost your virginity?”

Casey scoffed, turning bright red. “No,” she snapped, she crossed her arms and looked out the window again. 

“Okay, then where was it?” Derek chuckled, raising his eyebrows.

“None of your business,” Casey snapped keeping her eyes on the passing scenery. 

Derek laughed, “Oh come on, Casey. Just tell me! It can’t be that embarrassing.”

“I didn’t say it was embarrassing, Derek. I said it was none of your business.” Casey lowered her head. “Why do you care so much?”

Derek looked over and shrugged his shoulders. “I’m just curious. Don’t friends talk to each other about this stuff? Weren’t you the one who wanted to be friends?”

“I think we’re past us being friends at this point.”

“You’re not friends with the people you sleep with?”

Casey gave a sideways glance at Derek. “I don’t just sleep with people, Derek. This is new to me. Which is why I don’t think we should talk about personal stuff.”

Derek knitted his eyebrows. “Casey, you force me to talk about personal stuff all the time. Now that we’ve slept together, you’re going to change that rule?”

“I don’t force you to do anything, Derek. Talking about personal stuff is good for you. But that doesn’t mean you need to pry into my sex life.”

“Hey, I’m not prying! I was just curious.” Derek said glancing towards her nervously. “And technically I’m now a part of your sex life.”

Casey groaned and leaned back in her seat. “You are insufferable.”

“I am adorable,” Derek said with a wink. “And you still have 3 hours left in the car with me, princess.”

“And can you believe I even thought it was a good idea to dress up like Babe Raider at school!” Casey exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air and laughing.

“The only thing I can’t believe is how you didn’t get dress coded for that! Half of you was exposed. It was ridiculous.” Derek said shaking his head.

“I did! The principal called me into his office! I told him it was for a school project and he let me off with a warning. I can’t believe I got away with that.” Casey wiped a tear from her eye and chuckled. “But you know I only did it to impress Sam, right? Ugh, so pathetic.”

Derek’s mouth gaped. “You did that to impress Sam? You could’ve impressed Sam wearing a burlap sack. He was head over heels for you when you first moved to London. It drove me crazy.”

Casey gave a small laugh. “Drove you crazy? Why’s that?”

Derek glanced away from the road to Casey’s face. “He was my best friend, and I was trying to hate you. Those two things didn’t go well together.”

Casey crossed her arms. “Trying to hate me? Why? Why did you try to hate me?”

Derek shrugged. “Besides the obvious? That my parents were divorced, and my dad was getting remarried and I didn’t want my entire life to change? Hating you seemed like the only thing I could control. And you made it so easy.”

“Wow, Derek. How insightful of you. Glad I could help you get through all that. Although next time, you might want to just go to therapy.”

Derek gave a short chuckle. “Therapy should probably still be on the table. We’ve got a whole new mess on our hands.” Casey stared out the window and didn’t respond. Derek cleared his throat. “Look, if it makes you feel any better, I failed miserably at hating you. Obviously.”

Casey gave him a small smile. “Well, I did hate you for a while. But you kind of grew on me.”

“That’s kind of my specialty. I don’t want to make anything too easy for you, but I don’t want you to hate me either.”

“Well, I don’t think anything will ever be easy between us.”

“Maybe that’s what makes it so fun.” Derek gave her a small smirk. 

Casey sighed and put her head back against the seat. “I hate to say this, but I think you’re right.”

Derek gave an exaggerated gasp before letting out a laugh. “Casey, you are surprising me this school year.”

“I think this school year has been plenty surprising for the both of us.”

As the conversation died down, Derek turned into their neighborhood. They had approximately 5 minutes of driving left before they had to face their family. Derek let out some air and turned towards Casey. “Alright, Case. You are a terrible liar. Are you sure you’re going to be able to handle this?”

“Der-ek!” she pouted, crossing her arms. “I’m not that bad! As long as you actually work with me instead of against me!”

“I have to work with you! This is my lie too.”

Casey shrugged. “We clearly don’t have to lie. We still can’t be around each other for 5 minutes without fighting.”

“More like we can’t go 5 minutes without trying to jump each other’s bones,” Derek smirked.

Casey reached over and smacked his arm while he laughed. Derek pulled the car into the driveway, taking in the familiar look of his childhood home. He sighed and looked over at Casey. “It’s time to shine, Spacey.”


	5. In Breakable Heaven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Derek and Casey are ready to have fun over winter break... If only they could stop fighting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I figured Casey and Derek couldn't get through any sort of relationship without having the dumbest fights and then making up because they realize how dumb the fight was, which is all about what this chapter is. Basically, this is just a bunch of fluff, but it's fun. Hope you guys are enjoying and are having a good week 😊

Later that night Derek was lying in his bed scrolling through his phone. The day had gone by fine with only 3 fights and 2 broken glasses (Edwin’s fault). Everyone fawned over the baby and asked Casey and Derek everything about university. Derek and Casey actively avoided looking at each other, which seemed to be the best course of action when interacting with their family. However, Derek couldn’t help but sneak a glance at her when Nora asked about Michael. But he definitely didn’t smirk when Casey told her that it was over.

The day had honestly gone a lot better than Derek expected, with the only awkward moment being when his dad asked if they had been hanging out a lot at school. Derek had just shrugged and said not really while Casey looked down at her plate and didn’t say anything, which was probably for the best. The night finally ended when Derek and Edwin finished watching Die Hard (a family Christmas break tradition) at around midnight. Derek went up the stairs and hesitated at Casey’s room, which was right next to his, and considered knocking. He decided then that he would wait for her to make the first move. He luckily didn’t have to wait long.

Derek continued scrolling through his phone, barely paying attention to the posts on social media while he tried not to think about the fact that Casey was in the bedroom right next to his when a notification popped up at the top of the screen.

Casey: ~I can't sleep~

Derek sighed, he couldn’t either. He glanced at the clock in the left-hand corner of the screen: 1:07am.

Derek: ~Too much coffee with your dessert?~

Casey: ~Too many thoughts in my head

~And too many attractive hockey players in the house

~And I have too many articles of clothing on~

Derek smirked. Casey had definitely gotten ballsy since going to college. Or maybe she was always like this with guys she was hooking up with. He wondered if Truman had texts like this on his phone. He shook his head, Truman was the last thing Derek wanted to think about. He let out a breath and finally responded.

Derek: ~George doesn't play hockey anymore~

Casey: ~😤😤😤~

Derek: You can come over if you're quiet 😏

Derek put his phone down and waited. 45 seconds later (not that he counted) his door opened quietly. He turned to see Casey standing in his doorway. He motioned for her to come in with his head and she silently padded into the room and closed the door as quietly as she could. Once she was in, she let out a breath of relief. “Well, today was something,” she whispered walking up to his bed.

Derek sat up in his bed and patted the empty spot next to him. Casey climbed in, stretching her legs out on top of the sheets. She folded her hands on her lap and turned to him. “You did a better job than I thought you would, I’ll give you that.” He conceded.

“I am very good at pretending you don’t exist. I have years of practice,” she sniffed, putting her chin up in the air dramatically.

“And yet you couldn’t go one night sleeping in the room next to me without texting. Have you no shame, McDonald?”

Casey gave him a look, her loose top knot flopping towards him due to her dramatics. “We said we were going to have fun during break, and I haven’t had any fun yet. Not that listening to George and my mom talk about the baby and watching Edwin try to balance glasses on a broom handle isn’t fun.”

Derek chuckled and put his arm around her shoulders. “I know I’m irresistible, Spacey. You don’t have to make up excuses or lie to yourself.”

Casey shrugged his arm off of her shoulders. “If I had known there would be this much talking, I wouldn’t have bothered coming here. I’m not in this for the titillating conversation, ya know.”

Derek swung his leg over and sat over her, one knee on each side of her. He put his face close to hers and stared into her eyes. “What are you in this for, Casey? I’m dying to know.”

Casey let at a breath and hesitated. “I’m here to have sex with my stepbrother in his childhood bedroom while his dad and my mom are two floors below us. Isn’t that obvious?” Derek stared at her for a beat, not sure what to say. “I mean, if that’s too much to ask, I guess I’ll just go back to my room.”

“When you put it like that, it sounds really fucked up, Casey,” Derek said before kissing her.

Casey laughed against his lips. “We really need to stop pointing out how fucked up this is.”

Derek shrugged. “Doesn’t that just make it that much more fun?”

Casey was gone by the time Derek woke up the next morning. He figured she snuck out early in the morning so that no one would realize she slept in his room instead of hers. He groaned and looked at his phone. It was 9am and he had a text from everyone in his family that had a phone.

Derek shook his head and rolled his eyes. Leave it to his family to be unbelievably lame. He turned off his phone screen, ignoring all of his messages, and rolled out of bed. He glanced over at Casey’s room on his way to the bathroom. Her door was cracked open, but she wasn’t in there. Her bed was neatly made like she hadn’t been in there all night.

Derek wandered out of the bathroom after showering and brushing his teeth and ran right into Casey. “Derek!” she squeaked like they hadn’t spent the night together.

This is something that had happened to them many times in the 4 years they had known each other, but this time felt different. Derek was wet and half-naked and Casey was sweaty and in workout clothes. She gave him a once-over, “I hope you left some hot water.” She said putting her hands on her hips.

“You know I always leave some hot water for you, princess,” Derek smirked crossing his arms. “You have a nice, hot 30-second shower waiting for you in there.”

“Der-ek! Why do you always take such long showers? You barely have anything to wash and you use 5-in-1 shampoo!”

Derek took a step towards her. “It takes time to look this good, Case. Plus, I don’t want to smell, like Edwin does.”

Casey took a step towards him. “While I applaud your commitment to good hygiene, you are still a colossal pain in my ass, Venturi.”

Derek stepped towards her again, so that they were face-to-face, almost touching. Derek leaned in, brushing his lips on her ear. “I wish you also had a commitment to hygiene. You fucking stink, McDonald.”

Casey scoffed and backed away. Derek laughed while Casey crossed her arms over her chest. “I guess since I can’t shower yet, I’ll just have to go lie down in your bed, sweat and all.” Casey said, brushing past him.

“Oh no you don’t,” Derek exclaimed, grabbing her arm. “You’re keeping your body odor away from my room.”

“Why?” Casey laughed. “Your body odor is all over it. What’s the difference?”

Derek pulled on her arm, bringing her towards him. Casey stumbled a bit and stared up at him. Derek suddenly forgot what he was going to say, all snarky comments were gone from his head. Derek stared down at her and swallowed. He slowly put his arm around her waist. Casey blinked up at him, her breathing shallow. Finally, Derek leaned down and kissed her. Casey kissed him back, wrapping her arms around his neck. Derek pulled her into him, deepening the kiss. He moved his hands to the backs of her thighs and lifted her up. She wrapped her legs around his waist as their kiss became more urgent. Derek moved them toward his room without thinking about it, pushing her against his closed door. He reached for his doorknob and then pulled back. “You’re still disgusting. But I have no self-control around you. What is wrong with me?”

“We definitely need to work on not being able to be alone for 5 minutes without jumping each other,” Casey panted. “Especially once everyone is on break.”

Derek groaned. “You’re right, we’re animals.”

Casey lowered herself down and stepped around Derek. She rubbed her hands over her face. “I’m going to go shower. Maybe a cold one will be good for me.”

“Can I join you?” Derek said stepping forward.

“Der-ek!” Casey giggled, smacking him lightly on the chest. She turned and rushed into the bathroom, closing the door in his face. Derek lightly banged his fist on the door then rested his head on it.

Casey and Derek danced around each other for the rest of the day, stealing glances in the kitchen or when they passed each other on the way to the bathroom. They weren’t actively avoiding each other, but they both silently decided they needed practice for when they weren’t alone in the house next week.

Around 2pm Derek ended up in his recliner, watching the only thing that was on in the middle of the day, a really bad game show. He was trying hard to keep himself from bounding up the stairs and into Casey’s room. He felt like he was in high school again, trying his hardest to keep himself from her. He almost felt the need to prank her, his old coping mechanism. He absent-mindedly shook his leg and rubbed his hands on the armrests, attempting to get rid of all of his nervous energy.

“Bangkok,” Casey correctly answered the trivia question on the show, dashing down the stairs. Derek jumped at her sudden entrance.

“Casey, hey,” he said, rubbing his hand on the back of his neck and keeping his eyes on the tv.

Casey sauntered over and took a seat on the couch in the spot closest to the chair. She put her hands in her lap and glanced over at him. “I don’t like this ignoring thing we have going on,” she said firmly.

Derek looked over at her and cocked an eyebrow. “Can’t even make it a day, Case?”

Casey rolled her eyes at him dramatically. “I could make it for the rest of my life, Der. I just choose to not want to do it anymore.”

“And why is that?” Derek asked. He did his best the lay on the snark so that Casey didn’t think he also didn’t want to do it anymore.

“Because, despite my better judgment, I actually enjoy your company. And I don’t want to feel like I’m still in high school, avoiding you at every turn. I like to think that I—we—have grown as people. And yes, I am attracted to you, also against my better judgment, but I can also platonically spend time with you.” Casey finished her short speech with a nod, glancing back at Derek with her head held high.

“Fine, yeah, we can platonically spend time together, whatever that means,” Derek nodded, leaning back in the recliner. “We can start by going and picking up Ed and Lizzie from school. I kind of promised them I would.”

“Perfect!” Casey exclaimed, clapping her hands together and standing up from the couch. She turned towards Derek. “Come on, let’s go!”

Derek chuckled. “School doesn’t get out until 3 and it’s like 5 minutes away,” He made an effort to check his watch. “And it’s 2:15. So, make yourself comfortable.”

Derek leaned back in the recliner and put his arms behind his head. Casey put her arms down at her side and huffed. She quietly sat back down on the couch, crossing her arms. They watched the show for a few minutes in silence. Casey let out a huff. “Can we at least watch something good? This stupid game show is rotting my brain, it doesn’t even make sense.”

“I thought you liked trivia. Don’t keeners usually love answering questions?” Derek smirked at her, starting to flip through channels.

“Just give me the remote, Derek. I’ll find something,” Casey said putting her hand out in his direction.

Derek let out a laugh. “Like I would ever give you the remote. No way!”

Casey gaped at him. “What the hell? Just give it to me, Der-ek!”

Casey launched at him and tried to grab the remote from his hand. Derek was too quick for her, stretching his farthest arm in the air. Casey stretched as far as she could, but just ended up reaching over him, her arms not long enough to reach the precious remote control. Casey grabbed on to Derek’s arm, the only thing she could reach while she stretched over to the chair, her legs still on the couch. Derek attempted to rip her arm out of her grasp, but all he accomplished was pulling her more towards him. Derek laughed. “Casey, get off of me!”

Casey was now laying across the couch and the chair, her ironclad grip still on Derek’s arm. Derek tried to push her off of him, she rolled but never lessened her grip on him, pulling him out of the chair and onto the floor with her. They both exclaimed after they landed in a heap on the floor. Derek quickly corrected and threw his hand with the remote in the air. “Nice try, Casey,” he said looming over her waving the remote to taunt her.

Casey panted under him and fixed her hair. Casey smacked both of her hands on Derek’s chest. “You are so difficult!”

“It’s what makes me so interesting,” Derek taunted, leaning down closer to her. He checked his watch. “And we still have 15 minutes until we have to leave to get the hooligans.”

“Der-ek,” Casey groaned, turning her head away from him. “This platonic thing only works if we both do it.”

“Maybe we don’t need to hang out platonically,” Derek said before kissing her neck. “I like it better when we do the opposite of that.”

Casey rolled her eyes. “Someone is going to figure us out and it’s going to be your fault.”

Derek buried his head in her neck to hide his wince. Derek coughed and leaned back to look at her. “Fine, I will take all the blame,” he conceded, looking her over, “as long as I can take your pants off.”

Casey groaned. “That was so terrible. Get off of me, Venturi. Let’s just go pick up Edwin and Lizzie. We can pick this up later.”

Derek gave a terse nod and stood up. He reached a hand down and helped Casey up. Casey smoothed her clothes and took a step back, giving Derek a once over. Derek pushed his hand through his hair and looked down at the ground. “Maybe us going together isn’t the best idea,” he said in a low voice. He glanced up at her shyly.

Casey gave him a confused look. “What do you mean?” She said, her voice faltering slightly.

“I just don’t know how to act around you anymore, Case.” Derek stated, glancing up at the ceiling to avoid looking at her. “I don’t think Ed and Liz need to be in a car with us right now.”

“What are you talking about?” Casey asked, raising her voice in annoyance. “Just act normal around me. Why are you making it weird?”

“Because it is weird,” Derek snapped. “You are constantly sending me mixed signals. I’m getting whiplash from our relationship.”

“Just because I don’t want to have sex with you in the living room means I’m sending you ‘mixed signals’?” Casey said using air quotes for emphasis. “You are so immature, Derek.”

Derek hesitated. He opened his mouth to say something and then shook his head. “You know what, Casey. Maybe you’re right. Maybe I’m just too immature for this. Let’s just forget this ever happened.”

Derek brushed past her and grabbed his jacket from the coat hook and left without another word.

Derek stomped up to his room immediately after the tense family dinner they had that night. Well, it was tense for Derek. Whether or not the rest of the family noticed was another thing.

Derek flopped down on his bed and rubbed his face. Luckily, Casey was nowhere to be found when he got home with Ed and Lizzie, so the only interaction he had with her was 30 minutes during dinner. Now, he just needed to get through the rest of break.

Derek closed his eyes and laid back on the bed, attempting to clear his mind of all things Casey. Easier said than done. He had been trying to grapple with his feelings for her while she played him like a fiddle. His thoughts were constantly consumed by her. His previous hopes of finally getting over her in college were slowly dwindling.

Luckily, he was ripped from his thoughts by Edwin bursting into his room. “Get out Edwin,” Derek said automatically, not even bothering to look at him. “I’m not in the mood.”

“That’s what I wanted to talk to you about,” Edwin said, pulling Derek’s desk chair up to Derek’s bed. “You’ve been in a bad mood all evening. You didn’t even make a snarky comment when Casey was talking about going to a poetry reading. That’s when I knew something was really wrong.”

Derek gave Edwin a sideways glance. “Why do you care?”

“You’re my older brother! I haven’t seen you since Thanksgiving and you finally come home and something is clearly wrong. Lizzie and I were talking about what a good mood you were in last night only to have our hearts ripped out by our bitter brother when you picked us up this afternoon.”

Derek crossed his arms and glared at Edwin. “And what makes you think I’m going to tell you anything?”

“Derek,” Edwin started, leaning towards him and putting his hands on the arms of the chair, “I am older and more mature now. I can tell you’re hurting. Trust me with your problems.”

Derek let out a laugh. “You are ridiculous. Get out of my room, Edweirdo.”

“I just want to know what Casey did to you that made you _this_ upset.”

Derek choked on his spit. “What are you talking about?” Derek sputtered, sitting up in bed slightly. He shifted and composed himself. “Casey has nothing to do with this.”

Edwin cocked an eyebrow. “So, it _is_ about Casey!” Edwin exclaimed putting his finger up. “That was a hunch. And you just confirmed it.”

Derek rolled his eyes. “I confirmed nothing, Ed. You’re wasting your time. I’m never going to tell you. So, just get the hell out of my room.”

Edwin narrowed his eyes at Derek. “I don’t believe you. I haven’t seen you this upset since Sally left for Vancouver. Something’s going on, and I’m going to figure it out.”

“I’m not upset, I’m annoyed. Mostly by you. But if you really want, go ahead and get your little notepad and figure it out. Just leave me alone while you do it.”

“Whatever you say, D.,” Edwin said, shaking his head and heading towards the door. “Hope you feel better.”

Edwin left quickly, leaving Derek alone with his thoughts again. Derek silently cursed, genuinely worried Edwin might figure something out. He flipped over on his stomach a buried his head in a pillow, muffling a scream.

It was midnight and Derek couldn’t sleep. He tossed and turned in his bed, thoughts racing through his head. He hated being mad at Casey and hated her being mad at him even more. He groaned and glanced towards his wall, thinking about the girl on the other side. “Fuck this,” he muttered, ripping off his covers and heading towards his door.

He didn’t have a plan, but he was determined to fix whatever was broken between him and Casey. He quietly opened her door, not even bothering to knock. He quietly closed the door and stood in the dark. “Casey,” he hissed, hoping she was awake.

Derek heard shuffling of the sheets as Casey turned towards him. “What?” Casey hissed back.

“You up?” Derek asked with a smirk that she couldn’t see.

Casey scoffed. “No, I am clearly asleep,” she whispered. Derek could hear her eye roll in her voice.

Derek padded over to her bed, careful not to fall in the dark. He got to her bed and crouched down next to her. He hesitated, unsure of how to start. “Hey,” he said, his face close to hers.

Casey turned on her lamp and propped herself on her hand. “Hey,” she said quietly, looking down.

“I don’t like this,” Derek said plainly. “I think I fucked up.”

Casey sighed. “You didn’t fuck up,” she said, playing with the fabric of her bedspread. “I’ve made this way too confusing.”

Derek shifted. “No, you didn’t,” he said running his hand through his hair. “You made it very clear what this is. I’m the one who confused myself. Everything just feels so complicated with you. But it shouldn’t. Especially since you’re being _way_ more mature about this than I am.”

Casey looked up at him. “Are you sure you’re okay with all of this? You don’t have to be cool all the time, Derek.”

Derek chuckled softly and leaned in. “Don’t ever say that to me again, Casey.”

He kissed her softly while she smiled. Casey pulled back her bedspread and shifted in the bed so Derek could lay next to her.

The next week went great. Derek and Casey ignored all of their rules and did whatever they wanted while no one was home during the day. This put them in a good mood for when their family got home and kept the house in one piece. They still fought constantly, but neither of them took it personally anymore because they both knew they would end up in each other’s bed once everyone went to sleep for the night.

A few days before Christmas it was 2am and Derek couldn’t sleep. He didn’t hear any snores coming from Casey, so he nuzzled into her neck and said, “Are you still awake?”

Casey giggled. “Yeah, I can’t sleep.”

“What are you thinking about?” He asked, wrapping his arms even tighter around her.

“I’m thinking about Christmas,” she said wistfully, rubbing her butt into him. “I’ve got the perfect gift for you.”

“You do, do you?” he teased. “What is it?”

“I’m not telling you!”

“Come on, Casey. I don’t want to wait. You know I’m impatient.”

“More like impossible.”

“Fine,” he said with a huff. “At least tell me something you’ve never told anyone before.”

Casey groaned. “Why?”

“Because we’re awake at 2am and that’s what people do at 2am, Spacey.”

Casey was silent for a minute. “When I was 10, I fed my goldfish too much food and it died, and I told my dad that Lizzie knocked the food over and that’s what happened and then I cried when he flushed it down the toilet.”

Derek cackled then quickly buried his head in the pillow to stifle the sound. “That’s your secret? That’s what you decided to tell me?”

Casey reached back and smacked his leg. “Yes,” she said giggling. “Don’t tell anyone. I don’t want Lizzie to find out I told my dad that. She’ll be so upset.”

Derek gave another laugh. “Your secret is safe with me, Case. Don’t worry.”

“Okay, Derek. If that wasn’t a good secret, go ahead and tell me one.”

“Easy,” Derek said, shifting her body closer to his. “In grade 8, Ralph was dating this girl that Sam had a crush on. So, Sam stopped talking to him, which really sucked. So, I made out with her and convinced her to break up with Ralph so him and Sam would be friends again and then I never talked to her again. And neither of them knows what I did, and I don’t plan on them ever finding out.”

Casey didn’t say anything for a beat. “That was a good secret,” she whispered finally. “I guess I’m going to have to come up with something better.”

Derek laughed in her neck. “You can just tell me something personal. Unless you just want to admit that I’m more interesting than you.”

Casey let out a dry laugh. “Yeah right.” Casey paused, contemplating. She shrugged. “I guess I can tell you how I lost my virginity.”

Derek stiffened. That was not something he expected. “Uh, yeah, that works,” he stumbled his words out.

Casey cleared her throat and then shifted so that she was face to face with Derek. He blinked at her a couple of times. “Obviously, it was with Max,” she started with a sigh. “It was the summer between grade 10 and grade 11. You and I had just gotten into some stupid fight, I think you sprayed me with the hose when I was trying to read in the backyard or something equally as stupid. So, I stormed over to his house because I couldn’t stand being around you anymore. Max and I were hanging out in his basement and started, uh, kissing and stuff. And I guess whenever you and I would fight I tended to get a little more... affectionate with Max for some reason. So, it definitely got… more heated that day. Well, one thing led to another and it, I guess, felt right at the time. It lasted about a minute and a half and then we watched an action movie that I can’t even remember.”

Derek didn’t know what to say, so he stared at her for a moment before muttering “Sounds romantic.”

Casey pushed his shoulder. “Der-ek,” she whispered, a smile dancing on her lips. “I know Max wasn’t the most romantic boyfriend. But he was still so nice and caring.”

Derek pushed some hair out of her face. “No guy is romantic in high school, Case.”

Casey paused for a second and then glanced into his eyes. “You were romantic in high school.”

Derek’s mouth shot open and he did a mental double-take. “Wh-what are you talking about?” He put the back of his hand on her forehead. “You feeling okay? Did you hit your head today?”

Casey rolled her eyes and grabbed his hand, lacing her fingers through his. “As much as you want to deny it, you were such a romantic in high school. All of your relationships were like out of a rom-com. You worked all night to write a song for Sally. You and Kendra had romantic dinners once a week. You were literally going to run away to Vancouver for a girl. If that’s not romantic, I don’t know what is.”

Derek gave a dry laugh. “I only did those things because they asked me to. Well, except Vancouver. I think I just kind of snapped on that one. Plus, Vancouver is a beautiful city.”

Casey looked down at their entwined hands and sighed. “It doesn’t matter, Derek. You still did them. I asked Max and Truman to be romantic all the time, and they never did. You’re a sweet guy, no matter what you want people to think.”

Derek gently kissed Casey on the forehead. “You just haven’t been with the right guy,” he whispered. He cringed. “You’ll meet him someday,” he quickly added rubbing his thumb over her hand.

“I think I already met him,” Casey said softly. Derek couldn’t see her face, his heart started racing. “But I also think I colossally fucked everything up.”

Derek started to panic slightly. He didn’t know who she was talking about, but he was too afraid to ask. He swallowed and placed his forehead gently on hers. “You didn’t fuck anything up. If he’s not with you, he’s the one who colossally fucked up.”


	6. I Don't Want to Keep Secrets Just to Keep You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Did Casey and Derek figure something out? Probably not. Is everything about to get more complicated? Obviously.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy weekend. I'm running out of stuff to post because I don't have much else written after this, but instead of writing more, I'm posting this. Hope everyone is doing well.

Two days before New Year’s Eve Derek was eating cereal at the island. His dad was at work and Nora had taken the kids to the park to go sledding. Casey and Derek had conveniently decided to stay home after a stern talking to about “getting along.” Casey was still upstairs, so Derek was munching his cereal quietly thinking about going upstairs to find her and enjoy their time in an empty house when Casey sauntered into the kitchen, notebook in hand. “We need to talk about Emily’s New Year’s party this Friday,” Casey said sitting across the counter from him. She looked up at him, slightly grinning at his mouth full of cereal.

Derek rolled his eyes. He had forgotten that Emily was throwing a party while her parents were out of town for New Year’s. He had already seen the important people from high school, so he didn’t feel the need to get together with anyone else. But Derek never said no to a party. “Want someone to be your New Year’s kiss?” Derek asked with a mouth full of cereal. “I’ll make sure to wear Chapstick.” He puckered his milk-covered lips at her.

This time it was Casey’s turn to roll her eyes. “Derek, we need a game plan,” she said, opening her notebook. “There is going to be alcohol and dancing and lots of people from our high school there. Since we still don’t know what _this_ is, I’d like to keep it on the down-low. I don’t want to answer any questions or make anyone suspicious.”

Derek arched his eyebrow at her and took another spoonful of cereal to avoid having to say anything. Casey took his silence as acceptance and continued. “I think we should spend minimal time together at the party. Maybe a couple of dances, at most. I’ve come up with a list of girls I know will be there that you can flirt with,” she said handing Derek a piece of paper with six names scrawled in big, loopy handwriting. He took the paper, giving her a skeptical look. “I’ll be spending most of my time with Emily, anyway, but just in case, I’ve come up with a 3 minute and 30-second rule for us.”

Derek put a hand up to stop her. “A 3 minute and 30-second rule?” Derek asked incredulously.

Casey nodded. “That’s the longest amount of time the two of us can spend together. Any shorter would look like we were trying to avoid each other and any longer could lead to us flirting. It’s foolproof.”

Casey had a satisfied look on her face while Derek stared down into his cereal bowl. “You, uh, really don’t want people to know about us,” he said swirling his spoon in his leftover milk.

Casey gave Derek a quizzical look. “Of course not,” she said firmly. “I don’t want this to become more complicated than it already is.”

“I thought you wanted to have fun this break,” Derek said pushing away his bowl and standing up. “This doesn’t seem like a lot of fun.”

Derek picked up his bowl and set it in the sink, turning away from Casey. He couldn’t bring himself to look at her anymore, especially since he couldn’t control the look on his face.

Casey sighed. “Derek, this is to make sure we can keep having fun. Other people knowing would make it weird. I like what we have. These last few weeks have been great. Do you really want to spend the night answering questions from nosey ex-classmates?”

Derek put his head back, still unable to turn around. Casey was right, but he was only going to this party for her. So he could dance with her and put his arm around her while he drank cheap beer and talked to people he would forget about in 3 years. Leave it to Casey to ruin a party by giving him homework. “So, you don’t want to spend any time at the party together?” Derek asked, turning back towards Casey, crossing his arms, and leaning against the counter. His goal was to look nonchalant.

“That’s not what I said,” Casey countered, crossing her arms to match him. “If you listened to me for more than 5 seconds—”

Derek interrupted her with a scoff. “I listen to you, Casey. I hear you loud and clear. You’re embarrassed for people to know about us.”

Casey’s mouth dropped open. “That is _not_ true!” She exclaimed. “Forgive me for not wanting to be open about having a stepbrother with benefits.”

Derek launched himself towards the counter, putting both of his hands on the counter and leaning forward. “So that’s what this is to you?” Derek said raising his voice. He immediately regretted it, cursing himself that it was too late to take it back.

Casey blinked at him for a moment. “What is this, Derek?” She asked finally. “What do you want this to be?”

Derek stood up straight and took a step back, running into the counter. He opened and closed his mouth a couple of times. “I—” he stuttered, blinking quickly. “N-nothing. We’re just having fun.”

Casey stared at him. He felt his blood pressure rise and his cheeks go red. What was she thinking right now? Why wasn’t she saying anything? “Derek,” she breathed after a deafening silence. “If this isn’t just fun for you anymore, maybe we should talk about it.”

Derek’s chest felt tight. She was right. This hadn’t been fun for Derek; it had been the least fun thing he ever had to do. Pretending to not have feelings for Casey was torture. His breathing became labored. This was his chance to get it out, to finally put it out there. Feelings that he had been pushing down since high school bubbled in his chest. _Do it,_ his brain yelled at him. Casey was staring at him softly, a sad look in her eyes. Derek cleared his throat. “No,” he stated bluntly. “There is nothing to talk about. I’m going to go look these girls up on Facebook to see how bad your taste is.”

Derek snatched the sheet of paper off the counter and passed Casey, bumping her shoulder on the way out. He rushed through the living room and up the stairs, not taking a breath until he was safely in his bedroom with the door closed. He rested his back against his door, catching his breath, his head pounding. He slowly slid down the door and sat on the ground, putting his head in his hands. He sat there for the next hour. He ignored Edwin when he tried to come in, banging the door into his back.

Once he knew for sure that Edwin had given up, he flopped on his bed where he planned to stay for the rest of the night, his comforter pulled over his head. He needed at least 24 hours until he could face Casey again.

Derek finally woke up at 5am after he slept through the entire evening. He was starving since he had skipped dinner and his usual after-dinner snacks. He groaned and rolled out of bed. He quietly left his room and padded down to the kitchen. He stopped when he got to the door because he saw Casey sitting at the island drinking from a mug and reading a book.

He was about to silently back out of the room when Casey looked up at him. “Derek,” she said, quickly putting down her mug and book and standing. Derek instinctively took a step back. Casey’s eyes widened. “No—wait, don’t leave. We really need to talk... Please.”

Derek swallowed and gave a small nod. He slowly walked to the kitchen island and took a seat across from Casey, focusing on staring at the saltshaker instead of Casey. “Derek,” Casey started, sitting back down. “I feel terrible about what happened.”

Derek put up a hand to stop her and then pinched the bridge of his nose. “Don’t start this, Casey. I know I’m not going to like whatever you have to say, so why don’t we just leave it be?”

He started to get up, but Casey grabbed his wrist. “You don’t know what I’m going to say. I said we needed to talk, and I mean it.”

Derek turned slightly, finally looking at her. “I know what ‘we need to talk’ means. And it never ends well for the person it’s said to.”

Casey rolled her eyes slightly, then composed her face, determined not to get into a fight with him. She let out a breath. “Just sit down.”

Derek’s shoulders slumped and he took his wrist out of Casey’s grasp. He perched himself on the stool and placed his arms on the counter. Casey blinked at him, her mouth slightly open. Derek glared at her, his hunger coming back. “Derek, I know you don’t like talking about feelings,” Casey started, “but we knew getting into this that this would be messy and hard. I didn’t really think feelings would be the thing that got in the way, but here we are. And I just wanted to let you know, you’re not the only one who has them.”

Casey stopped and looked at him. Derek simply blinked at her, his mind fogging up. He had no idea what to say to this. They sat in silence for what felt like an eternity. Derek opened his mouth to say something and then closed it again. Casey cleared her throat. “I did a lot of thinking last night,” she said putting her hand on his arm, “and you’re right. I’ve been trying to keep this whole thing a secret. But not because I’m embarrassed of _you_ , but because I’m embarrassed of _me_. I told myself when we started this that I would not let myself fall for you. You’re _Derek._ You’re my stepbrother. I wanted to be this cool girl in college. Someone who could sleep with someone casually. But I failed… Miserably.”

“Casey,” Derek breathed, “what are you saying?”

Casey stood up and walked over to him. She put her arms around his neck and turned his face towards hers. “I’m saying,” she said, brushing his hair back, “that I’m all in if you are.”

Derek swallowed. He wrapped his arms around her waist. “This was never casual for me. It couldn’t be. Not when it was with you.”

On New Year’s Eve, Derek was woken up by the doorbell ringing. He glanced at the clock. Who the hell was at the house at 8:30am? Derek rolled over and put his pillow over his head, no reason to be bothered by whatever was going on downstairs. He was halfway back to sleep when he heard Nora call upstairs “Casey, there is someone at the door for you. He says he’s a friend from school?”

Derek shot up in bed. He looked over at the wall he shared with Casey as he heard her door open and close. He ripped off his covers and raced to his door. He hesitated for a beat, listening to make sure Casey was down the stairs before he snuck out to eavesdrop. It had been just over 24 hours since he and Casey had decided to acknowledge their feelings for each other, he had to make sure nothing—or no one—was getting in between them.

Derek got to the top of the stairs and crouched. He felt like a kid again, watching his parents fight while Edwin and Marti were in bed. He looked down the stairs, trying to confirm his suspicions. Standing in front of Casey was a tall, blond boy with a sad look on his face. Derek rolled his eyes, of course, it was Michael.

“Casey, I’m here because I was stupid, and I think we should talk.”

“Did you really have to come all the way to London to do this?”

“I figured I would take you up on that offer to go to your friend's New Year’s party.”

“I invited you to that a month ago when we were still dating. Your invitation was voided when you broke up with me right before finals.” 

“Come on, Case. Just give me a chance to explain myself. You at least owe me that much.”

Derek took this as his opportunity to enter. He had to save Casey from this jerk. He bounded down the stairs. “Actually, Mike, she doesn’t owe you a damn thing,” he stopped at the landing and stared Michael down.

Casey shot daggers at him. “What are you doing?” Casey spit at him.

Derek gave a smile. “Just saying hello to company, Case.” He crossed his arms. “I happen to live here too.”

“Derek, this is none of your business. Please go back upstairs.”

Derek glared at Michael, then shot his eyes over to Casey. “I actually do think it’s my business, Casey.”

Casey sighed and rubbed her face. She turned back to Michael who was standing awkwardly in the foyer, hands in his pockets. “Michael, why don’t we go upstairs and talk… In private.”

Derek’s mouth shot open. His eyes never left Casey while she grabbed Michael’s hand and started up the stairs. She brushed past Derek. When she was halfway up, she turned to him. “If you eavesdrop on us, I will never speak to you again,” she said with a look that could kill.

Derek scoffed and headed into the kitchen. “Hey Derek,” Nora greeted him when he came in. “What was that all about?”

Derek grunted and took a seat at the island. “I guess Casey’s ex is trying to grovel to get her back.”

“Ahh,” Nora said, setting a bowl down on the counter and sliding it towards Derek. “So, that’s the infamous Michael.”

Derek grabbed the bowl and started pouring himself some cereal. “Prince charming didn’t introduce himself to you?” He muttered, glaring at his bowl.

“Not a fan?” Nora chuckled, leaning against the sink, and sipping coffee from a mug.

“He’s a huge jerk,” Derek started, pouring milk into his bowl. “Truman 2.0”

“So, you’ve met him?”

Derek rolled his eyes. “Casey made me go to a party with him. He left her crying in the bathroom.”

Derek decided to leave out the fact that she was crying because she had told Michael that she and Derek had kissed. Nora’s mouth went wide. “He did what?” She exclaimed moving towards the island.

Derek nodded. He needed to make Michael look like the villain Derek knew he was. “Yeah, they got into some fight in the middle of the party and Michael left her there,” Derek said with a mouth full of cereal. “Don’t worry, I got Casey home safe. Unfortunately, I’m used to protecting her from scumbags.”

Nora pursed her lips and sipped her coffee. “And we appreciate you for that. But I don’t like the idea of her upstairs with him right now.”

Derek shrugged and took another spoonful of cereal. “I was banned from going upstairs. She said she’d never talk to me again.”

“Shouldn’t you be happy about that?” Nora smirked. “She always tells you that but never actually means it.”

Derek swallowed. “I, uh, think she meant it this time.”

Nora gave Derek a sad smile, almost like she knew too much. “Right, well now that I’ve had my coffee break, I’m going to go check on George and the baby. You might want to hang out in the living room and make sure nothing crazy happens.”

Nora placed her mug in the sink and headed down the basement stairs. Derek sat and stared at his cereal bowl for a minute, contemplating his next course of action. If he went upstairs, Casey would be furious. If he didn’t interfere, Casey might get back together with him. Fortunately, the answer to his problems strolled into the kitchen. “Edwin!” Derek exclaimed, hopping off of the stool.

Edwin jumped and took a step back. “I promise, it wasn’t my idea!”

Derek cocked an eyebrow. “I want to know what you’re talking about, but we don’t have time. I need you to go upstairs and spy on Casey and her ex-boyfriend.”

Edwin gave Derek a confused look. “You want me to do what?”

Derek gave an exasperated sigh. “You’ve got to listen to their conversation and tell me what they say. It’s important.”

Edwin raised his eyebrows at his older brother. “Dude,” he started, “I know you’re usually super nosey when it comes to Casey, and I definitely support it, but this seems like a pretty serious talk. Maybe you should stay out of this one.”

“Edwin, just do this one thing for me, no questions asked, and I will give you $20 and I won’t ask you what you were talking about just now. But you have to hurry because they’ve already been up there for a while.”

Before Edwin could respond, Casey strolled into the kitchen. She looked between the two boys and crossed her arms. “You didn’t miss much, Derek. Michael is already gone. But he’s going to Emily’s party with us tonight, so be on your best behavior.”

Derek gawked at her as she crossed the kitchen and started pouring a cup of coffee. “You invited him to Emily’s party?” He sputtered. He looked over at Edwin and gave him a look to mean “can you believe this?”

Casey turned back to face him and put her mug to her lips. “Is that a problem, Derek?”

Derek looked between Casey and Edwin. “Yeah, Casey, I do have a problem with that. Why wouldn’t I?”

Casey looked over at Edwin and then back at Derek, raising an eyebrow. “Why do you have a problem with that, Derek? This really has nothing to do with you.”

Casey was playing her hand. She and Derek had decided last night that they would keep any and all information about them from their family and friends for the time being. While both of them admitted to having feelings, they didn’t want to answer any questions until after break was over. Derek cleared his throat. “Casey, do you think maybe we should talk… In private?”

Edwin looked between the two of them, a shocked look on his face. He snatched the box of cereal from the counter. “I think I hear Lizzie calling me, I, uh, better go.”

Edwin practically ran from the kitchen, leaving the two of them staring at each other in silence. Derek crossed his arms and finally broke the silence. “You really invited your ex-boyfriend to Emily’s party? After yesterday?”

Casey took another sip from her mug. “Derek, Michael is actually a really nice guy. He and I are going to try to be friends. He drove all this way; it seems cruel to make him drive all the way home on New Year’s Eve. He really has nothing to do with us.”

Derek rolled his eyes. “You just invited him because you knew it would make me crazy. Admit it.”

Casey let out a laugh. “Jealous, Der?”

“Jealous of a catalog model? Yeah right. This is about you always making terrible decisions.”

Casey’s eyes went dark. Derek had never seen her so angry. “Really, Derek? That is the direction you decided to go? Is everything a game to you?”

Her voice was surprisingly level, and that terrified him. Derek rubbed the back of his neck. “Maybe we should do this somewhere else.”

Casey stared at him for a moment, not blinking. Then her eyes softened, she squared her shoulders and stood up straight. “No,” she stated. “I don’t think we’re going to do this at all. Michael will be here at 8, play nice.”

Casey set her mug in the sink and walked out of the kitchen without another word.

Edwin sat in Derek’s desk chair while Derek paced in front of him. Edwin’s eyes followed him while he waited for Derek to say something. Ten minutes after Edwin had bolted from the kitchen, Derek burst into his room and told him there was an emergency guy meeting. Derek had practically dragged Edwin out of his room and down the stairs to his room. “So, uh, does this guy meeting involve talking?” Edwin asked rubbing the back of his neck.

“Yes,” Derek said, continuing to pace.

Edwin gave him another minute before speaking again. “So, you want to talk about Casey’s ex-boyfriend?”

Derek shot a look at Edwin. “No,” he snapped. He paused for a second staring at his younger brother. “Okay, yes. I don’t know what to do about this guy. He keeps showing up.”

“And why do you care? He’s just some guy that Casey dated. He’s not the only one.”

Derek glared at Edwin. “You didn’t see her crying drunk in the bathroom of some party. This guy is bad news.”

Edwin sighed. “You don’t even know if they’re getting back together—”

“Oh, they’re not,” Derek interrupted. “Not if I can help it.”

“This doesn’t seem like it’s your place, D. Maybe you should just trust Casey’s judgment.”

Derek stopped in his tracks and turned to his brother. “Trust Casey’s judgment?” He exclaimed. “That is the stupidest thing you’ve ever said, Ed.”

Edwin put his hands up in defense. “Maybe that’s why she’s always getting mad at you.”

Derek scoffed. “Just because you’re in high school now, doesn’t mean you all of a sudden know everything.”

“You acted like you knew everything when you started high school.” Edwin shrugged.

“And now that I’m in University, I know even more. So, shut up and help me or get the hell out of my room.”

“Good luck with whatever this is, D. I’m out.”

Edwin scrambled out of the room, staying just out of Derek’s reach. Derek groaned and flopped back on his bed. He needed a new plan.


	7. I Love you Ain't that the Worst Thing You've Ever Heard

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> New Year's Eve has always been a chaotic holiday.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is a little shorter, but it's a little more intense. Why can't things just work out for them? 
> 
> It's 3am right now and I had nothing better to do than to post another chapter. I'm still not 100% sure how this story will end, but I think I'm getting there. Hope everyone's week was good. Enjoy the weekend

Michael showed up at exactly 8pm, of course. Derek rolled his eyes when the doorbell rang, but he reluctantly got up from his recliner and answered it. “Hey there, Mike,” Derek said flatly, hesitantly letting him into the house.

“It’s, uh, Michael,” he replied putting his hands in his pockets. “Is Casey around here somewhere?”

Derek had already crossed back to his recliner and started flipping through channels, hoping Michael would get the hint that he had no interest in talking to him. Michael followed him and sat down on the couch, staring at Derek intently. No wonder Casey liked him, he liked to have conversations. “I have no clue where Casey is,” Derek said, still not looking in Michael’s direction. “I make it a point to not know where she is, actually.”

“I’m sure that’s not true,” Michael said under his breath.

Derek shot a glance at him, but before he could respond Casey bounded into the room. “Hey there!” She said enthusiastically, ignoring the obvious tension between the boys. “You guys ready to go? I told Emily that we’d show up early to help her set up.”

Michael smiled and stood up while Derek leaned back and put his feet up. “Yeah, I don’t show up early. I’ll be there around 10,” Derek said not looking in Casey’s direction.

Casey stared at him for a minute before composing herself. “Perfect,” she said with a smile to Michael. “Four’s a crowd anyway. I can’t wait for you to meet Emily.”

Michael walked over to Casey; Derek followed him with his eyes as he gave Casey the most awkward hug Derek had ever seen. He attempted to hide the smile creeping on his lips. “You kids try not to have too much fun until I get there,” Derek called to them as they exited the house.

“We’re going to have to have as much fun as possible until you show up and ruin it,” Casey said, slamming the door behind her and Michael, leaving Derek alone to regret all of his choices in the past 2 months.

Derek swallowed and looked down at the mostly empty whiskey bottle in his hand that he stole from his dad’s liquor cabinet. He accidentally drank too much while he watched a terrible romance movie on the Hallmark channel. He almost threw the bottle at the tv when the credits rolled after the two main characters got together, but he opted for another swig instead.

He blinked a couple of times as the next movie started and glanced down at his watch. It was 9:30 and he could hear people arriving at the party next door. He knew he should probably skip it after all of the alcohol he had consumed, but he kept picturing Casey and perfect Michael dancing the night away before sharing a midnight kiss and he abruptly stood up. He wobbled a bit and then hiccupped; this was a great idea.

Stumbling over to Emily’s house took twice as long as it usually did. Derek had a horrible flashback of when he last walked over here to break up with Emily after 5 weeks of dating. Dating her was a poor attempt at forgetting about his embarrassing crush on Casey that he had developed in grade 12. He only asked Emily to prom so he wouldn’t be compelled to ask Casey and be horribly rejected. Emily was the perfect scapegoat for his conflicting feelings, and it had the added bonus of pissing Casey off.

But tonight, he was only going to Emily’s house for one reason: to win over Casey once and for all. Well, maybe he wasn’t going to be able to do that, but he had half a bottle of liquid courage telling him he had to try.

He walked through the front door and immediately regretted drinking the last fourth of that bottle. There were so many people he hadn’t seen in 6 months. He wandered through the living room, receiving claps on the back and exclamations from former classmates. But he didn’t really hear any of them because he was only looking for one person. He meandered through the crowd and into the kitchen where he spotted Michael. He was sipping something from a plastic cup and talking to Sandy, who Derek hadn’t seen since she turned him down for prom. Derek walked up to him. “Hey, Mike,” Derek slurred at him, grabbing his shoulder. “Where’s, uh, Casey?”

Michael shrugged Derek’s hand off his shoulder. “Hey, Derek,” Sandy said, twirling a lock of her hair in her fingers and turning away from Michael. “College looks good on you.”

Michael made a face and looked between the girl and Derek. Michael gave out a sigh. “Casey’s downstairs with Emily and that Sam guy. But she probably doesn’t want to see you. She wouldn’t shut up about how mad she is at you.”

Derek smirked. “Silly, Mike,” Derek said ruffling his hair. “That means she definitely wants to see me.”

Michael rolled his eyes and turned back to Sandy as Derek pushed past him and down the stairs. When Derek got to the basement, he immediately saw Casey. She was in the back of the room laughing at something Sam had said.

Derek strolled across the room and settled next to Casey, putting his arm around her. “Casey! Just who I was looking for,” he exclaimed.

Casey shrugged his arm off of her shoulder and took a step back. “Well look who finally decided to show up,” she said pursing her lips.

Sam and Emily exchanged a look as Derek once again put his arm around Casey. “You know I can’t miss a party, Case,” he slurred, pressing himself into her. He leaned down and breathed in her ear. “I missed you.”

Casey scoffed and pushed him off of her. “You’re drunk, Derek. Maybe you should go.”

Derek sputtered. “M-maybe you should go. I’m trying to have a good time with my good friends Sam and Emily.”

Derek crossed over to them and put his arms around their shoulders. Sam wrapped his arm around Derek’s back and pulled him off of Emily. “Maybe we should get you back home and get you some water, D.” Sam said trying to lead Derek towards the stairs.

Derek pushed Sam away and started back towards Casey. “I’m not leaving until Spacey at least gives me a chance to talk to her.” He turned back to Sam, cupped his hand over his mouth, and attempted a whisper. “She’s upset with me because she makes terrible decisions.”

“Der-ek!” Casey said grabbing his arm. She gave an apologetic look to Sam and Emily. “I’m just going to deal with this problem really quick.”

Emily gave a sympathetic smile. “You can use my room to, uh, talk.”

Casey gave Emily a silent thanks and dragged Derek up the stairs. As they passed through the living room Derek pulled on her hand and twirled her around. “Let me have this dance?” He chuckled, pulling her into his chest.

Casey rolled her eyes. “You are so drunk,” she scoffed pulling back. “Let’s just go upstairs and talk.”

Derek let go of Casey’s hand and put his hands up dramatically. “Oh no, everyone,” he yelled, “Casey and me have been hanging out for more than 3 and a half minutes. People might think we’re flirting.”

“Derek,” Casey hissed, grabbing his hands and pulling him to the side of the room while he doubled over in laughter. She gave apologetic smiles to everyone she had to push out of the way in order to get him under control. “Can you get your act together?”

“You’re right,” he stated leaning towards her, “just take me upstairs, princess.”

Casey gave out a sigh and dragged him up the stairs. She pulled him into Emily’s room and quickly shut the door turning to him. He gave her his best smile and stumbled over to her, leaning in to kiss her. Casey scoffed and pushed him onto Emily’s bed. “That is not what we’re here for,” she said putting her hands on her hips. “You want to talk, so talk.”

Derek rubbed his face. “Ca-sey,” he slurred. “Why are you doing this to me?”

“Doing what?”

“Making me crazy,” he sighed, putting his head in his hands.

“Making _you_ crazy?” Casey exclaimed. “Derek, you have been driving me crazy all day with your insane jealousy!”

Derek moaned. “You have been driving me crazy for four years.”

“Are you serious?!” Casey yelled, unable to control the tone of her voice. “If anyone was driving someone crazy these past four years it was you driving me. You made my life miserable. And now you’re going to blame me for whatever _this_ is?”

Casey gestured at the intoxicated boy sitting in front of her. Derek sat for a minute, taking it in. He finally stood up. “How can I fix this?” He finally said, taking a step towards her.

Casey sighed. “Is this even worth fixing, Derek?”

Derek gave her a sad look. “Why would you say that? We haven’t even given it a chance yet.”

Casey pinched the bridge of her nose and looked down. “It’s just so hard—”

“Maybe _that’s_ what makes it worth it, Case,” Derek grabbed Casey’s shoulders and looked her in the eyes.

“Derek, I don’t think I can do this right now. Not when you’re like this.”

“Like what?” Derek said, his voice rising slightly. “Insanely in love with you?”

Casey took a step back. “What?”

Derek groaned and turned away from her, putting his head back and burying his head in his hands. He turned back to her. “I’ve been in love with you since high school. And I’ve been fucking miserable ever since I figured it out.”

Casey blinked at him. “Derek,” she breathed, unable to say anything else.

Derek sat down on the bed again, slumping his shoulders. “Yeah, pretty fucking pathetic, right?”

“N-no,” Casey stuttered, shaking her head. “You’re not pathetic, Derek. You’re just—just confused. W—we should talk about this when you’re sober. You’re not in your right mind.”

Derek gave out a dry laugh. “It’s gotta be now or never, Case. I can’t do this back and forth anymore.” He stood and crossed over to her. “Tell me you feel the same way. We can be together for real.”

Casey looked down, avoiding his pleading eyes. “Derek, let’s just talk about this tomorrow, I—I can’t do this.”

“Casey,” Derek breathed, grasping her chin lightly and tilting her head towards him, “tell me you feel this too.”

Casey grabbed onto his wrist and stepped away from him, her back against Emily’s door. “This is moving too fast.”

“It’s been four years. I figured out I was in love with you shortly after I broke up with Sally. It’s been anything but fast for me.”

“Derek, I can’t tell you what you want to hear tonight,” Casey whispered, looking at the ground. “Go get some sleep. We’ll talk tomorrow.”

“What happened to being all in, Case? What happened to me not being the only one with feelings?”

“Derek, this is so much different. This is—a lot. This is four years of repressed feelings.”

“Then let’s not repress them anymore,” he said softly stepping towards her and placing his hand on her cheek.

“It’s not that easy, Derek,” she responded gently pushing him away from her.

“It is though. It could be the easiest thing in the world.”

“We decided we were going to try this out and clearly it isn’t working. I’m sorry.”

Derek’s chest tightened, panic set in. He couldn’t let it end like this. In one last desperate attempt, Derek pressed his lips into Casey’s. She paused for a second before she gently pulled back, softly putting her hand on his chest. “I can’t do this, Derek. I’m in way over my head. You deserve so much more.”

Without saying another word Casey slipped out of the room leaving Derek standing there, chest heaving and mouth gaping.


End file.
